Awesome Vladdy stat shows that one of his best abilities is durability

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. put together quite the season at the plate in an otherwise disappointing 2024 campaign for the Toronto Blue Jays.

From his early-season power outage, during which he still hit well, to his resurgence to one of Major League Baseball's pre-eminent power sluggers, there has been plenty of focus on all the good things he did at the plate this season. He even showed off his positional versatility on the defensive side of the ball in 2024, moving back over to third base and showing his skills at the hot corner from time to time.

As far as Guerrero's abilities go, there's no doubt that he has some of the best abilities in the game and when he's locked is a terrifying opponent for any pitcher. But he also did something this year that may have flown under the radar.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has shown incredible durability in his MLB career

There's a saying that the best ability is availability. That's something that Guerrero has shown he has had over his career to this point, and perhaps a reason why it's not mentioned more often. He's durable and is always ready to take the field.

The 25-year-old superstar just completed his sixth MLB season and has already played in a ridiculous number of games (819) at his young age. He played in 159 of the Blue Jays' 162 games this year — an impressive 98.15 percent.

But possibly the most remarkable thing about the number of games Guerrero played this season is that it's not even his career high. He played in 161 games in 2021 and 160 in 2022. He played all 60 contests of the 60-game schedule during the shortened 2020 season.

Here's how his games played looks over his career:

Since debuting with the Blue Jays in 2019, Guerrero has played in 94.14 percent of the team's 870 regular season games. Taking his debut 2019 season out of the equation, he has appeared in 98.31 percent of Blue Jays games.

If you recall, there was a lot of concern about his conditioning and doubts about his ability to handle the rigors of a full season when he first joined the MLB ranks. Dedication to his fitness has helped him avoid serious injury thus far in his career, despite battling through bumps and bruises and some knee issues — an impressive feat considering the number of injuries that ravage the league each year.

"One of the things that mostly got in my way last year was health," Guerrero told ESPN's Alden Gonzalez last winter. "But I've learned a lot about that -- about how to take care of my body a lot more."

Six years in, Guerrero has managed to stay on the field and in the lineup consistently, which is precisely where the Blue Jays need him.