The first pitch Vladimir Guerrero Jr. saw in the major leagues was a ball, belt-high and six inches off the plate.
He didn’t swing.
Like father, unlike son.
The first time I saw his father play on a back diamond at spring training in Florida, he doubled off the wall on a pitch that bounced two feet in front of the plate. If Vladimir Guerrero Sr. ever saw a pitch he didn’t like, it was probably aimed at his head. He may have been the freest swinger in the history of the game and yet he hit .345 in 2000 while swinging at tosses to first base.
In his 16-year career, Guerrero hit an astounding .318 with 449 home runs and 1,496 RBI despite a strike zone that went from the ankles to the shoulders on his 6-foot-3 frame. No one in the history of the game hit so well while swinging at so much.
If the senior Guerrero became somewhat more selective as he grew older and more experienced, he was never up there to draw a walk. The way they play the game today, he would have struck out 200 times a season. Yet his worst season for strikeouts came with the Expos when, still a youngster in 1998, he struck out 95 times while hitting .324 with 38 home runs as a 23-year-old.
Not that the son has to accomplish much for the Blue Jays in order to eclipse his illustrious father’s modest debut season. I covered the nine games Guerrero played after he was called up late in the 1996 season under the most difficult circumstances. Because of Atlanta’s Dogpatch Olympics, the Expos were forced to play a six-game road series against the Braves, followed by three games in Philadelphia.
If they hoped for some help from Guerrero’s big bat, they didn’t get it. He hit .185 over nine games with a single home run for his only RBI. You could see it all there, from the howitzer in the outfield to the speed on the bases to the sheer joy in playing the game, but there was not enough time for the 21-year-old to adjust to the major-league game.
That would come, and Vlady would leave here for Anaheim as the greatest player to wear an Expos uniform for a significant portion of his career.
Fast forward to Toronto, of all places, and Vlad Jr.’s overhyped debut with the Blue Jays. Predictably, the cheerleaders in the Toronto press box made much of everything the younger Guerrero did in his first game, including a couple of routine plays at third base that were touted as the second coming of Brooks Robinson.
They weren’t — but they did show that Guerrero has reasonable agility at third base and a powerful arm, the latter directly from daddy. And he plays the game the same way, with a big, cheerful smile and an easygoing disposition.
If there’s a concern, it’s the sheer size of the young man. Guerrero is listed at 6-foot-2, but is probably an inch under that and 250 pounds, including what may be the widest shoulders in baseball. He turned 20 last month and he’s already a whole lot of man, built more like a catcher or a linebacker than a third baseman.
Those who covered his dad back in the day remember the way Vlady would turn up every spring, five pounds heavier than he had been the year before. His weight was a serious topic among the Expos training staff; Guerrero was regularly urged to lose the weight to maintain his speed and lengthen his career.
But with the added weight came added power — Guerrero would point to the home runs and grin and go home to more of Mama Guerrero’s Dominican cooking. By the end of his career, Guerrero was listed at 235 pounds but was probably closer to his son’s current weight. With the Texas Rangers, the once speedy right fielder had become an embarrassment in the outfield. He played 16 seasons, but he could easily have remained in the game for 20 years or more had he paid more attention to his weight and conditioning.
The Jays are clearly aware of the younger Guerrero’s weight. They have emphasized diet and conditioning with him and he looks lighter now than he did last spring. At this point, the weight doesn’t hamper his game at all — he’s fast for a man his size and remarkably agile.
If Guerrero grows weary of people talking about his weight, he can point to Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval. The Kung Fu Panda, 5-foot-11 and 280 pounds with gusts to 300 and upwards, has played nearly 1,200 games while hitting .281 over a dozen seasons with the Giants and Red Sox.
Baseball can be a cruel game. There is no such thing as a sure-fire prospect. If you have a weakness, it will be found and exploited. But if he stays fit and maintains his focus, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has all the tools to follow his father into the Hall of Fame.
The only question that remains, then, is this: Will he go in wearing a Blue Jays hat — or the much more attractive Expos cap after he signs with Montreal?
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2019
