Blue Jays: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. snubbed in ROY nominations

Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was snubbed as a finalist in the American League Rookie of the Year nominations or was he not that deserving?

Toronto Blue Jays rookie Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was left off the Rookie of the Year ballot in favour of Yordan Alvarez, Brandon Lowe, and pitcher John Means.

Was Vladdy more deserving than Means or did they get the nominations right?

World Series champion Yordan Alvarez is head and shoulders above the competition and will unanimously take home the hardware for his efforts in Houston. The 22-year old absolutely destroyed the competition hitting .313/.412/.655 with 27 homers, 78 runs batted in and a 3.7 WAR in just 87 games following his call-up.

Vladdy Jr. struggled down the stretch but still managed to end his rookie campaign with a .272/.339/.433 slash line that included 15 home runs, 69 runs batted in and a 2.1 WAR in 123 games with the Blue Jays.

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Brandon Lowe had a similar offensive campaign to that of Vladdy hitting .270/.336/.514 with 17 round-trippers, 51 runs batted in and a 2.9 WAR in 82 games for the postseason bound Tampa Bay Rays.

John Means who in his defence did pitch admirably for the cellar dweller Orioles going 12-11with a respectable 3.60 earned run average in 31 games that included 27 starts. The 26-year old fanned 121 in 155 innings of work while compiling a 4.5 WAR.

Perhaps if Vladdy had not faded in the final month of the season, he would have surpassed Means and or Lowe in the balloting. The 20-year old hit .232 with no homers and 19 strikeouts in the final 20 games of the season.

In all likelihood, the real Blue Jays candidate would have been Bo Bichette had he made it to the majors sooner. In 46 games, Bichette hit .311/,358/.571 with 11 home runs, 21 runs batted in and a 2.1 WAR. Bichette missed the final two weeks of the season with a concussion that completely eliminated him from the ROY running.

So when you crunch the numbers, Vladdy in all probability is the fourth or fifth-best rookie in the American League and realistically does not deserve to be on the ballot.