Toronto Blue Jays fans voicing displeasure with Vladimir Guerrero Jr
Photo credit: https://www.theglobeandmail.com
Toronto Blue Jays fans don't appreciate what they have in five time All-Star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. There's a difference between being the best player on your team and the face of a franchise.
There aren't 30 of those in baseball, either. True faces of a franchise share a small club, each of them representing the perfect intersection of talent and timing while embracing the city, or country, around them. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is in that club now.
Guerrero is now what Blue Jays president and CEO Mark Shapiro calls a «legacy player," someone who builds his entire career in one city.
"Getting a franchise player and a homegrown player to grasp onto as an organization and a fanbase is such a good thing,» manager John Schneider said on MLB Network. «Vladdy is everything you want in a player who's going to be the face of your franchise going forward. He's taken that ownership with the contract. I've watched him grow up in the game, and when you sign that deal, there's certain expectations that come with that, and he knows that.
"He's responded well. You don't get those contracts very often. It's a really good thing for our fans, for one, and to have that stability in the middle of our lineup for a lot of years to come is great for this team.»
His 2025 season performance has so-far been slightly above-league average, which for some fans feels like a disappointment.
Some of the numbers haven't popped off the page, with just 12 home runs in 350 at-bats and a .434 slug that ranks 71st among all qualified hitters.
However, what Guerrero has done this year, is shown an elite ability to recognize pitches and not over extend himself to often.
His 56 walks are tied for 11th in the league while his 59 strikeouts are the 34th lowest among all qualified hitters, and among primary first basemen only Luis Arraez (11), Josh Naylor (46), Nolan Schanuel (47), Ryan O'Hearn (52), and Ty France (57) have fewer.
His chase percentage is 20.8, ranked in the 89th percentile and his walk rate is 13.5% which puts him in the 92nd percentile.
It's the best walk rate to date in his career and while Vladdy isn't making all that money just to walk to first every at-bat, he has completely bought into the philosophy of trusting the guys around him to get the job done.
«When you trust your teammates especially in the lineup, whoever is either in front or behind you, it makes your job easier. If they're not pitching to me, if they walk me, I'm OK, because whoever is hitting behind me, I trust that teammate. That allows us to be who we are right now,» Guerrero told Sportsnet reporter Shi Davedi.
That's also not to say he's just been up there, holding the bat on his shoulders. Vladdy has been making consistently good and hard contact all season.
His max exit velocity of 120.4 m.p.h. is one of the hardest hit balls all season, while his average exit velocity is 92.8 m.p.h., is within the top eight percent in the Majors.
He has an expected batting average of .315 and an XWOBA of .402. The batting average ranks in the top one percent and the XWOBA is in the top four percent, so with a little luck after the break, Vladdy's .277 batting average and .818 OPS should start creeping higher as well.
And if trends stay true, Vladdy could absolutely go off in the second half like he did last season.
In 63 games after the All-Star break, Vladdy slashed .376/.450/.678 with an OPS of 1.127. He hit 16 home runs, 23 doubles, scored 50 runs and drove in 46. He also walked more than he struck out with 31 base on balls to 28 K's.
But if Vladdy is going, the Blue Jays are going. In their 53 wins this season which Vladdy has started, he has hit .324/.415/.498 with eight home runs and 67 hits in 207 at-bats.
In the 41 games he has played in where the Blue Jays have lost, he has hit .210/.341/.343.
It's fairly obvious that every team the Blue Jays face will know these stats, and they will be looking for ways to neutralize Guerrero Jr., which makes it even more important for him to not only have a hot second half, but for him to continue buying in to that philosophy of trusting those around him.
Blue Jays fans voice displeasure with Vladimir Guerrero Jr online
The Blue Jays have officially won their series against the San Francisco Giants as they won this afternoon 6-3 after another solid team effort but Guerrero on the other hand struggled at the plate once again.
So far in the month of July, Guerrero has a .222 batting average to go along with a .630 OPS while also grounding out into 5 double plays which is far from ideal.
27 is a rally killer
I said back in late May that Vladdy was having a bad season and was called every name under the sun. "He has a .830 OPS and he's 25% better than league average bozo" Yeah, that's a terrible season for him. It's only gotten worse.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has SUCKED!!!
A lot of fans seem to think that Vladimir Guerrero Jr is not worth the $500 million dollar contract the Blue Jays awarded him this spring.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr 1 pitch at bat. 6-4-3 double play. Earned approximately $336,756 that pitch.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr you robbed this team of 500 million dollars
These knee jerk reactions towards Vladimir Guerrero Jr from fans of a team that are currently 16 games above .500 and lead the American League East are absurd.
The same naysayers that said Guerrero Jr wasn't loyal to the Blue Jays and would leave Toronto in free agency this spring out of greed.
There's more to this than baseball. Guerrero has long embraced Toronto and Canada, but many so called Canadian baseball fans have rarely reciprocated.
Everything comes back to Vladdy with this team. Forever, it will come back to Vladdy.
While he's playing all of the right notes off the field and in the clubhouse, his numbers going into the second half this year don't necessarily capture his talent.
Down the stretch last year, Guerrero reminded the league that, when he's hot, he's one of the most dominant hitters on the planet. The Blue Jays need to see that hitter again.
That moment feels close, when Guerrero reminds everyone that he's not just the face of this franchise, he's one of the best players in baseball, too.
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