Blue Jays 2019 Top Prospects: #1 Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Jays Journal is back for the final installment of our top 30 prospects list, today we are looking at the Blue Jays top, and easily their best prospect ever in Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Name: Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Position: 3B               Age:19

Height: 6’1″                Weight: 200 lbs

Throws: Right            Bats: Right

Acquired: Signed in 2015 via International Free Agency

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. much like Bo Bichette and Cavan Biggio have bloodlines in baseball greatness, but the way his hype is going, he has a very real chance of surpassing his father’s hall of fame career.

Vlad Jr. is easily Toronto’s best prospect in team history, but there is even talk that he might be one of the best prospects to ever have been in the MLB, and he’s only 19. (Though he should be 20 come his MLB debut.) So without further delay, let’s look at what makes him so impressive.

Hitting

Baseball America gives Guerrero a hit tool score of 80. That is the highest score anyone has ever had until another great batter breaks into the league.

The way he takes plate appearances is absolutely amazing. It seems he knows where his strike zone is and can usually discern strikes from balls. This is shown in his career walk to strikeout ratio. Since 2016, he has shot up the minor leagues with his patience at the plate. Having a career 146 walks against his 135 strikeouts. Just take that in a minute, Vlad Jr. walks more than he strikes out.

Not only is he a patient hitter, but he is also a really really good one. A career slash line of .331/.414/.529 shows how effective every plate appearance is for him. Heck, last year in Double-A, through two-thirds of the season, he hit an astonishing line of .402/.449/.671. That is insane. And this is the area where he outranks his father the most, the value he puts into his at-bats. Not only is Junior able to put the bat on the ball effectively, but he also doesn’t swing at things that are out of the zone.

Power

Not only is Guerrero’s hitting amazing, but his power is really awesome. He comes in with a power tool of 70 for himself, and it shows. Logging 20 home runs as well as 78 RBI’s in the minor’s last year.

But don’t be deterred by those stats, Guerrero can hit the ball hard. And when brought to Rogers Centre, which is a very hitter-friendly ballpark, he is sure to rake.

Guerrero’s power is almost as impressive as his hitting, making him one of the best offensive prospects that the MLB has ever seen.

Speed

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Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is a pretty big guy. But he moves at a pretty good speed and he’s given a speed tool of 45. Just recently he ran out a ball that dribbled in front of the plate for an infield single. He has the ability to hustle out of the box when he needs too.

Not only that, but he is effective when on base. Throughout his career in the minor leagues, he has 341 total hits to his name, and 183 runs scored. That is more than half of the time he gets on base, he will score. He’s a smart base runner.

There’s also the fact that he has 26 career stolen bases through 3 seasons, which isn’t great, but I’m not expecting too much speed from a third baseman.

Fielding

Guerrero is given a score of 45 for fielding which isn’t too surprising. When he was signed, he was brought on to be an outfielder, like his father. But his defence was too weak for the outfield so they moved him to third base, where he showed some promise and growth.

As a third baseman last year, Guerrero had a fielding percentage of .945 at the hot corner. Although holding 12 errors in 2018 isn’t great, he hasn’t done too bad for himself for someone transitioning into a new position.

There will still be questions as to how he will fair in the MLB, and people might think he could make a move to first or even take on a role as a DH, which would all be ok because no matter what, you want his bat in the lineup.

Future Value

Guerrero has a lot of hype following him, and it is all well deserved. Expect for him to be the piece that Toronto builds their team around for years to come.

He will most likely get multiple All-Star bids to his name, with one coming potentially this year. He will most likely win the A.L. Rookie of the Year Award and potentially an MVP award.

As far as Toronto fans and front office are concerned, Guerrero is the future of the team. It will be an exciting day when he comes up to play in Toronto, and he will no doubt be a fan favourite.

Even if we have to wait a couple of weeks into the season to see him, it will well be worth it. In the  words of Charlie Montoyo: “If Vlad Jr. is half of what his dad was, that’s gonna be fun for us.”