Blue Jays’ star rookie keen to put defensive struggles behind him
Guerrero has been ‘battling a little’ at third but is confident he’ll improve with practice
BOSTON Vlad Guerrero Jr. can hit. Anyone who has seen and heard the hurt he puts on a baseball can readily attest to that.
The 20-year-old Blue Jays rookie can throw as well, the possessor of a powerful arm that can make up for some of the potential clumsiness his size could add to whatever growing pains are happening over at third base.
But after errors in back-toback games before a three-game weekend series versus the Red Sox, which began Friday in Boston, there has been some extra scrutiny to Guerrero’s defensive abilities or lack thereof. Rather than panic and pout, however, the bobbles have only aided the youngster’s resolve to improve that part of his game.
“I’ve been battling a little the last couple games, I’ve been struggling,” Guerrero said through translator Hector Lebron while sitting in the Fenway Park visitors dugout Friday afternoon. “But I’m good.
“Every day that I go out there, I’ve got to keep working hard and taking ground balls and little by little I will get better.”
Consider that he’s played only 39 of his 46 games at third base (he was second in the order at DH Friday) and it’s only the early stages of the work in progress.
As a team on pace for 100 losses, the Jays can certainly afford a season-long tutorial for Guerrero at the hot corner and by all accounts that seems to be where this is headed.
His seven errors so far lead the team and manager Charlie Montoyo acknowledged there is work to be done. But as was his mandate when he was hired, Montoyo has prioritized the development of the young players on the roster with Guerrero at the head of that class.
“It bothers him when he makes errors — a lot,” Montoyo said. “It bothers him because he’s a team guy. You don’t teach that. You’re born with that. It bothers him that something (bad) happened because of an error that he made.
“But the more he plays, the better he’s going to get. I know he didn’t have a great homestand, but he’s getting better defensively already than where he was at the beginning.”
There has been healthy skepticism almost from the beginning about Guerrero’s ability to play third. And this week there were already pointed comments on the Jays flagship radio station to shift the kid to first base.
On a team losing at the rate it is — not to mention Justin Smoak and Rowdy Tellez are trading time defensively on the other side of the diamond — that’s not going to happen any time soon.
Now is the time when the team can afford to let Guerrero learn on the job to get up to the big-league level at his favourite position.
His footwork has for the most part been fine, with the only significant flaw being fluidity in his play.
The roots to making Guerrero into a third baseman date to the man who ultimately signed him — former Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos.
During the recruiting process, Anthopoulos thought he was looking at an outfielder until the day he asked Guerrero what position he wanted to play. There was a raised eyebrow or two when he said third base. But Anthopoulos didn’t rule it out after watching him throw.
Just as there is an adjustment to the way pitchers are attacking him on the edges at the plate, Guerrero was always going to have defensive growing pains as well.
“Up here, they hit it very hard, way harder than in double-a and triple-a,” Guerrero said.
But Montoyo has noticed improvement, partly because of the work of coach Luis Rivera and Guerrero’s will to prove he can do it.
“Coming and getting the ball, he’s been better,” Montoyo said. “He wasn’t really very good at the beginning. Now he’s a lot better, more comfortable. (Early in the season) didn’t look right. Now he’s more squared to first base.
“I don’t want to see him struggle, but at the end of the day it’s going to be good for him. He’s never struggled before and it’s always been easy.
“The best players struggle, everybody.”
Montoyo also took note of something else as well the other day. After Thursday’s extra-innings win versus the Los Angeles Angels, Guerrero ducked his head into the manager’s Rogers Centre office with a plea that spoke to his heart and determination.
“The first thing he does after the game is he says, “I’m playing tomorrow, right?’ I don’t want a day off,’” Montoyo said. “That’s awesome. He’s just a kid and he’s going through that right now and he’s going to be all right.”