Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is heating up and hoping to get the Toronto Blue Jays out of last place. ... [+]
Look out AL East, Vladdy is heating up.
For the first part of the season, Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. looked lost at the plate. Through the Blue Jays’ first 31 games, the slugger was slashing .229/.331/.348, with a .678 OPS. He had three home runs in 136 plate appearances. Toronto was 15-16, in fourth place in the ultra-competitive AL East, just one game out of the cellar.
When the calendar flipped to May, Vladito started to wake up. When you are hitting .229, going 3-for-12 over three games actually improves your batting average (up to .231). But, on May 5th at Washington, Vladdy started to show some real signs of life. He went 2-for-4 with a homer and four RBI. Despite an 0-for-3 the following day, which brought his batting average back down to .234, the tide was about to turn.
From May 8th through last night (June 6th), Guerrero is slashing .380/.461/.510, for a .971 OPS. In that time – over 26 games – he has seven extra base hits, including three home runs. He was hitting the ball relatively well in the first stretch – 42 balls with an exit velocity greater than 100 MPH in 36 games. But, over the course of the past 26 games, he has done that 40 times, including a string of 5 out of 6 at bats with exit velocities as high as 112.3 (funnily enough, the one ball during that streak that left the bat at less than 100 MPH garnered him his only hit – the others all resulted in outs). 38 of Guerrero’s 70 hits on the season have come in the last 26 games, and he has only struck out 14 times during this stretch (as compared to 32 earlier in the season).
As of today, Guerrero is hitting .295 and slugging .426. It is hard to know if he can remain this hot for the rest of the summer. We do know what he is capable of – take a look at his spectacular 2021 season, where he led the league in runs (123), homers (48), OBP (.401), slugging (.601), and OPS (1.002). And he hit .311, striking out in less than 16% of his plate appearances. So the potential to keep this up (even if not this far up) remains there.
Vladimir Guerrero celebrates on of his 48 homers during his runner-up-to-the-MVP 2021 season. (Photo ... [+]
Despite Vladdy’s rejuvenation, the Blue Jays have actually fallen to last place, 14 games behind the scorching New York Yankees. But, more importantly for the Canadian club, they are only 1.5 games behind the third place Red Sox, and only three games behind the Minnesota Twins for the third wild card spot.
There is still a ton of baseball to be played, and the Blue Jays – on the whole – can really only get better. As of today, they are a below average team in many and varied categories, on both sides of the ball. Here are just a few:
- Batting Average: .234 vs. league average .238
- Slugging Percentage: .370 vs. league average .392
- OPS: .680 vs. league average .699
- Home Runs: 53 vs. league average 68
- Team ERA: 4.29 vs. league average 3.89
- Home Runs Allowed: 83 (2nd worst to the White Sox) vs. league average 66
- WHIP: 1.290 vs. league average 1.237
If there is one glimmer of hope, it is that Toronto’s bullpen has been amongst the best in the league, and they may be able to keep the team afloat while Bo Bichette (80 OPS+) and George Springer (77 OPS+) find their respective ways out of the doldrums in which they currently reside. It would seem, as of now, if the team has any chance at making it to the post-season, they will need to ride the coattails of their best and hottest hitter: Vladimir Guerrero, Jr.
The Blue Jays need to hope on the coattails of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. if they want to make a run at ... [+]
