Blue Jays: Good and bad, careers that changed from a year ago

We knew it was coming, and it was worth the wait

I have a confession to make, and I’m not proud of a conversation I had a little over a year ago. A friend asked me what I thought about Vladimir Guerrero Jr’s 2020 season, and my reactionary and frustrated response was, “maybe they should put him on the trade block before he loses more value”.

In my defence, I was frustrated with the way the 2020 season had gone for young Vladdy, and not necessarily because of his performance. In his 21 year old season, I fully expected there to be bumps in the road as he continued to adjust to the highest level of baseball. That’s only natural for any developing player, especially one that reached the big leagues at such a young age.

What had me making such a ridiculous statement at the time was the fact that Guerrero Jr’s conditioning appeared to be a legitimate issue, and one that I worried could get worse. The Blue Jays had moved him from his original position at third base over to first, largely because of the shape he showed up in for camp that year. His natural talent still showed in flashes, but I was legitimately worried that he could end up as a tremendous waste of potential.

Then a switch flipped for the young phenom, and it actually came during the summer of 2020. That’s when he made a renewed commitment to fitness, and the results were drastic. Not only did he get in the best shape of his life as a pro, he also blossomed into a star at the same time. Obviously those two things are related, but I didn’t expect them to happen simultaneously, or so quickly.

In 2021 Guerrero Jr. finished 2nd in AL MVP voting, and if not for the heroics of two-way sensation Shohei Ohtani, he likely would have won the award. He finished with a slash line of .311/.401/.601 with a league-leading 48 home runs, 123 runs, and OPS+ of 169. Simply put, he was the American League’s best hitter.

For what it’s worth, I wasn’t really serious when I told my buddy that the Blue Jays should trade Guerrero Jr., and it would have taken a treasure trove of players coming back before I would have been okay with such a thing. However, the fact that I said it at all shows where things were for Vlad Jr. a year ago (and how impatient I was at the time), especially when you compare it to how things stand today. What a difference a year can make.