Toronto Blue Jays: Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s MLB career off to promising start
Making his major league debut for the Toronto Blue Jays, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. showed why he can be the franchise star the team desperately needs.
Since 2015, the Toronto Blue Jays have been patiently waiting for their prized prospect, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., to make his rise through the various development leagues.
Finally on Apr. 26, the top prospect in baseball was finally making his long-awaited debut against the Oakland Athletics and the 20-year-old made his mark when it mattered.
Tied 2-2 in the ninth inning, Guerrero ripped a grounder down the first baseline stretching out for a standing double and putting the Blue Jays in a strong position to the win the game. Even though he showed great hustle to get to second base, he was pulled for the pinch runner.
Billy McKinney moved Alen Hanson to third base with a bunt leaving Teoscar Hernandez with a great opportunity to drive in the winning run with only one out. Unfortunately, he hit a line drive right to the second baseman leaving Brandon Drury in a position to try and drive the winning run with two outs.
Luckily for the Blue Jays, Drury did not hesitate on the first pitch crushing a walk-off home run to provide a dramatic end to one the most anticipated debut in franchise history.
As Shi Davidi of Sportsnet wrote, the team hasn’t seen this amoung of hype going into one game since 2015 when they made the big trades for Troy Tulowitzki and David Price. This game, however, should be seen on another level.
Unlike 2015, the outlook from Vlad Jr.’s debut is obviously different, this is about breaking ground on what should be the most exciting era of Blue Jays baseball. A youth movement the team has been craving.
Obviously, most of the team’s top young players are still in the minor leagues and it will take time for them to join Guerrero Jr., this is an incredible amount of pressure considering most players have their own timeline.
The pressure is now on management to give the top prospect in baseball a team that can support him. The organization knows all too well what can happen when an elite player’s talent is wasted by a mediocre team around him.
If there is one thing you can take away from his debut, Vlad Jr. never looked out of place and it seemed like the moment never got too big for him. There will be questions about his defence at third base but there is no doubt about his elite skills at the plate.
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What did you make of Guerrero Jr.’s debut? Are you excited for the future and what do you think the team needs to do going forward? Let us know in the comments below.