Reviewing the Rookie Season of Vlad Guerrero Jr.

In 2019, Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero’s son, Vlad Guerrero Jr., made his MLB debut on April 26. At the time, he was just 20-years-old. With Vladimir Guerrero being his father, and being able to hit a home run off of a tee, Vlad Jr. had high expectations coming from some. He played in 123 games and finished sixth for AL Rookie of the Year, so he has a decent sample size to look at. Here is a look at some of Vlad Jr.’s stats from his first season as a major leaguer.

Hitting

Vlad Jr. had a slash line of .272/.339/.433. He hit 26 doubles, 15 homers and accumulated 69 RBI. It took him a few weeks to get his first big league homer. His first one came on the road against the San Francisco Giants. Vlad Jr. finished that game with two homers, the first two of his career. He hit 10 of his 15 homers on the road in 2019, with five of them being in Toronto. The youngster hit a clutch home run at home off Yankees’ southpaw Zack Britton. The Blue Jays were trailing 7-6 in the bottom of the eighth inning. That’s when Vlad Jr. hit a three-run homer, giving the Jays a 9-7 lead. Toronto held on to win the game 11-7.

The Blue Jays’ third basemen also finished the season with 126 hits, 46 base on balls and 91 strikeouts.

Fielding

Guerrero Jr. Played 24 games as a DH, and had 96 appearances at third base. He made 66 putouts along with 182 assists. However, he also made a decent amount of errors with 17 of them. It gave him a below average fielding percentage of .936. Vlad Jr. also helped turn 23 double plays as a third basemen in 2019.

Home Run Derby

Vlad Guerrero Jr. finished in second place in the 2019 T-Mobile Home Run Derby. (Image from Sportsnet)

Vlad Guerrero Jr. also participated in All-Star weekend as he was the eight seed in the Home Run Derby. He was scheduled to take on the one seed Christian Yelich in the opening round, but Matt Chapman filled in for Yelich, who didn’t want to aggravate an injury. He crushed Chapman in the first round, out-homering him 29-13. Then, he faced Joc Pederson in what is one of the craziest rounds in the new Home Run Derby format. Vlad Jr. won the round 40-39, but it took multiple overtime rounds for him to move on to the finals. In the final round, he took on another rookie, Pete Alonso, who won the NL Rookie of the Year in 2019. Alonso won that round 23-22, hitting the clinching homer with around 20 seconds left on the clock, although he also had his 30 second bonus if needed. Either way, it was an interesting derby, and Vlad Jr. hit 91 total homers across his three rounds.

Feature Image Courtesy of sportsnet.ca.

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