vladimir guerrero.

thought about starting a thread for him, but don't wanna jump the gun yet

vlad guerrero jr, the top prospect in baseball. absolutely TEARING UP double-A ball right now -- hitting .400/.450/.650. he just turned 19

and there's this: https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/video-vlad-jr-homers-twice-once-off-a-hotel/

i'm all for this thread. i want him to be amazing.

may as well keep it on this thread anyway, maybe? if there were ilb threads back in the bobby bonds and ken griffey days it would have been fun to see them morph into the barry and griffey jr era.

Popular topic on the call-in shows here, obviously. According to one of them the other day, the team scouts almost unanimously say he's ready to play in the majors now, that he's not learning anything where he is. The ownership seems to have a timetable of their own. I expect he'll be up for good no later than April of next year, though.

(Donaldson complicates the issue somewhat.)

i'm particularly excited because not only is he amazing, but he doesn't strike out much at all

feel like they traded for gio urshela today just so they'd be able to say 'sorry we have no room for vlad jr yet'

is he still in new hampshire? i need to get off my ass and see him and bo before they move up. i think i'm closer to manchester than i am buffalo or toronto or wherever their a-ball affiliates are (not that i need to worry about a-ball anymore!)

Me and some friends have a plan to see him when they are playing in Erie, which is the closest place to see him play.
I’m starting to think there is no way he’s still going to be in AA by the time that team will be playing there though.

3-for-3 this morning, now batting .414 overall -- best in the minors by 35 points

That vid of Vlad Jr. hitting that bomb off a tee was pretty impressive. That is way harder to do than you would think.

Motion to turn title of this thred to “ gurrero & son”

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. went 4 for 4 with a walk-off homer today.

It is May 20, and he's hitting .423/.468/.705 at Double-A.

He's barely 19 years old.

And not to sound like a broken record or anything, but he belongs in the big leagues with the Toronto Blue Jays. Like, now. https://t.co/uvuhJAsxJW

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) May 20, 2018

I would absolutely not bring him up this year lol

no they should

they have every incentive to keep him in the minors (except ticket sales and fun) which sucks

otoh it's gonna be a while before they're a vlad away from seriously competing with the yankees (and to a lesser extent, the red sox); maybe they should keep him in the minors for several more years

why? they play in a division with the red sox and yankees, and (I think) would lose a year of control if he gets brought up this year xp

moving him up to AAA seems inevitable at least

because I want to see him in the majors, that's why

I mean, you're totally right, but still

AA or AAA, he still really needs to work on his defense.

The year's a write-off, so--besides reasons already given--there's no point. I was open to bringing him up at some point when the team looked competitive, but bring him up now, and he'll probably end up in mop-up relief or something.

I don't know, I have the Braves in mind and how they are competing with young players and sure perhaps it's an outlier. However, there is some sort of cognitive dissonance with the idea that since the Jays aren't competing right now, there's no need to bring in one of their best players on board. Five games away from the wild card in late may, what is there to lose?

On the other hand, I think Thermo is right about the defense.

What kind of bothers me in regards to the Jays future is, while we’ve got some serious bats coming up (Alford, Biggio, Bichette, Smith, Jansen) we don’t have much in the way of pitching. Pearson I like a lot, tho he’s hurt right now and Borucki might be ok... but I feel like bringing up Vlad too soon brings him out of synch with the others. I get that he’s more advanced than any other prospect in the system but I don’t see a need to rush him if it doesn’t serve a purpose.

He'll get called up in September for sure. As for calling up the prospects and letting them develop in the majors (like the Braves and Astros), it won't happen. The Jays haven't done that since the early 80's.

to quote zack cozart, this is bad for baseball. the best players should be in the majors, regardless of age or years of control. the cubs/braves gaming a couple weeks to get an extra year of bryant/acuna is, while bad, one thing, but stashing a guy for months/years is unacceptable. if the jays keep him down it may be smart given the current incentives, but it's something that baseball as a whole should address

agreed

agreed here, too.

on the other hand, i guess it's good for AA baseball

saw people on twitter celebrating 'the guerrero news' but it turned out to be about peru's world cup captain : /

last I checked he was hitting like .440

.417/.465/.701 with 21 strikeouts in 216 plate appearances

in a league in which he is -5.3 years younger than average

<3

i also side with zack cozart on this issue

but if he's not going to promoted it would be nice to see him hit .450 or do something bonkers

So it's obviously bad for baseball fans that Guerrero is not playing in the majors right now but on top of that... I wonder how the current Blue Jays squad feel about not getting the necessary reinforcements to win games. As players of major league caliber, their whole life is set upon competing at baseball, and then their management is throwing the towel 45 games into the season and decides not to bring in potential help to win games. It must be so frustrating, if not downright deflating. 'Nah you guys are not quite worth losing one year of Guerrero's contract, sorry'.

boo hoo lol

I can see them thinking that way in another context--later in the year, somewhat closer--but I can't believe anybody on this team thinks Guerrero's going to launch them into contention. Something I come across in a lot of books is how, 50 years ago, some veterans would be very supportive of younger players (e.g., Musial), but most would treat them like dirt. I don't know how many of those guys still exist--money has changed everything; veterans don't feel as threatened anymore--but if they do, they're probably thinking this Double-A guy sure does get a fuck of a lot of attention.

Not launching them into contention, indeed that would not happen right now, but at least help winning games. However you are probably right, there is a most probably a selfish reaction when a young star comes along.

(However, it would be fun to hear if the arrival of Albies and Acuna did motivate older players in the Braves lineup to compete more than they used to, or if it just a coincidence.)

most jays are playing poorly enough that they deserve to be replaced, so they should be happy to leave the minor leaguers where they are. of the few that aren't -- or at least deserve the benefit of the doubt -- two play vlad's position

i would guess most guys' feelings are a mix of 'shit, i could tear up double-a too' (not like this, you couldn't) and 'whoa that kid's good'. most of them saw him in spring training and hit that walk-off in montreal

and yeah, winning is more fun than losing, but i suspect guys like smoak and solarte are pretty content to be playing okay and making the MLB average salary without worrying about front office moves

of the few that aren't -- or at least deserve the benefit of the doubt -- two play vlad's position

donaldson won't be around for too long, though, i'd guess. unless his injuries destroy his trade value

Yeah the market is already saturated in decent-to-great third basemen, considering how the past off-season went I am not convinced Donaldson is going to easily find a new home.

this year is crazy...

Vlad Jr. (leg) placed on the DL at Double-A https://t.co/N0fWiWGo8z

— Rotoworld Baseball (@Rotoworld_BB) June 7, 2018

dammit

https://sports.yahoo.com/argument-favor-keeping-vladimir-guerrero-jr-minor-leagues-203009930.html

Heading to Buffalo. Will definitely get down there for a game.

Having a hard time getting my head around Vlad Sr. on the cover of TV Guide.

so far in AA he's batting .410/.460/.668 in 54 games, 236 PAs, 205 wRC+

he seems ready to another level

ready for another level

#isthatgood

If you're in Toronto, TSN is debuting Namesake today at 5:00, about the two Guerreros. I'm heading down to Buffalo on Thursday to see Jr.

I gave serious thought about doing that. But fuck trump. I’m not going to that country.

Don't punish yourself. When you look back one day and say "I saw him play in Triple-A," the other guy will be long gone.

i'll live.

I feel like I like Vladdy more than you do, and it’s still very early! Took a long at his unqualified (cos it’s early) 24 statcast numbers.

https://i.postimg.cc/KYWyN08j/IMG-8699.jpg

Is he pressing? He’s smoking the ball when he’s making contact and he’s walking a lot so his eye’s still great and the chase rate is too but he’s striking out well above his normal rate - he’s not normally a high strikeout guy. The sweet spot % (basically hitting the ball with a good launch angle that gets it off the ground and more likely to find grass rather than a glove) makes me think he’s missing his spots because he’s behind and maybe it’s a timing issue?

Assuming I’ve understood xwOBA correctly (I will welcome correction cos expected stats & me are not a happy match), he’s making good quality contact when he does make contact, maybe he’s just unlucky?

https://www.mlb.com/glossary/statcast/expected-woba

You probably do at this point--the closer you are, the more exasperating he can be. It was the same last year: all his advanced metrics suggested he was hitting in bad luck. All year we heard that. I'm like Jeff Blair (local radio guy) at this point: enough. (Directing that at Vlad, not you.) The thing that really changed me with regards to Vlad was learning how dispropotionately his big year was driven by those minor-league parks.

He's definitely pressing. And I'm sure he's got a few dozen people whispering in his ear what he needs to do, from his father on down, and they're all telling him different things.