Comparing Guerrero Jr.’s season to past Jays greats
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is having a half-season for the ages with the Blue Jays, his numbers leaping off the statistical pages at the all-star break.
He leads the majors in batting average (.332), is tied for second in home runs (28), first in RBI (73), first in on-base percentage (.430), second in slugging (.658), first in OPS (1.089), tied for fifth with teammate Bo Bichette in hits (105) and third in runs scored (68).
At a time when offensive statistics are in decline, when strikeouts are on the rise, when baseball is choking itself with spin rates and analytics, Guerrero appears to be doing the impossible, seemingly having the greatest offensive season in Blue Jays history.
Contextually it might be. Statistically, not necessarily.
In 1993, John Olerud went to the break hitting .395. In 1999, Tony Fernandez was batting .372 at the break.
Jose Bautista had 31 homers at the break in 2011. George Bell had 29 in his MVP season of 1987.
In Carlos Delgado’s monster season of 2000 — one of many monster seasons — he had an OPS of 1.185 heading to the all-star game. Both Bautista and Olerud had numbers better than Guerrero’s current mark at the break.
The RBI number that seems impossible from afar: Delgado had 97 at the break in 2003. Nine Blue Jays —three of them being Delgado, two of them being Edwin Encarnacion — also had 73 RBI at the break — the same number Guerrero has now.
But when Bell became the first Jay to win MVP in ’87’, the only category he finished first in was RBI. He was second in homers, 12th in batting, 36th in on-base percentage, fifth in OPS, 2nd in slugging, second in runs scored.
Those numbers put Guerrero’s current standing in a crazy place in Blue Jays history: The most complete offensive half-season we have ever witnessed.