Vlad had himself a night
The Toronto Blue Jays were in tough against the Washington Nationals and their ace Max Scherzer on Tuesday night, especially after the team chose to be extra cautious with George Springer, who was not activated off the injured list as expected.
And then what happened?
(I’ll give you a hint: None of the three swings in the GIF above was from the same at-bat.)
There isn’t a whole lot that needs to be said about this one, but we sure can revel in Vlad’s night a bit. So let’s do that!
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Three home runs. Seven RBIs. The youngest player to do so since 1901. A fresh profile in the New York Times focusing on his transformative winter. A 958 wRC+ night to take his season mark up to 229 (trailing only Mike Trout).
Yes, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is having himself a moment. It’s the precisely the kind of moment we always expected him to have — and, if we’re being honest, that we worried a little bit over the last couple of seasons that he might not ever actually be able to pull off.
Enormous credit to him for what’s happening now. Sure, there are plenty of advantages to being the son of a Hall of Famer and having preternatural skills on the baseball diamond, but that’s not all it takes. And, as we saw at times in his first two seasons, when failure starts to creep in for the first time in your life, it can be difficult to pull out of. The kid had to work his ass off to be here — literally and figuratively.
Consider how he’s changed his diet, per the NYT’s James Wagner.
“It’s been a change of 180 degrees,” (personal trainer Junior) Rodriguez said. “This is a very different Vladimir.”
Away from the gym, Guerrero became more disciplined — and the people around him helped. He increased his water intake. He stopped snacking after dinner. No more alcohol, fried food or sugar. He slashed his portion sizes, something (grandmother Altagracia) Alvino said she had to get used to. She said a longtime family friend who also cooks has also kept an eye on the portions.
Alvino said she made Guerrero a cucumber-green apple-celery juice before the morning workouts and a papaya-oatmeal-cinnamon shake in the evenings. Lunch was the biggest meal of the day. Although Guerrero never ate a lot of rice, Alvino said, she started using a smaller spoon to serve him. He still got a normal amount of her stewed beans, his favorite, and meat or fish.
“If he finishes fast, I say, ‘Are you still hungry?’” she said. “He says, ‘No, abuela, I’m OK.’”
There has been no talk of launch angles this year. No balls batted maddeningly into the carpet with regularity. Just the pure, sweet, ultra-violent swing of a kid who is only just now starting to tap into his immense talent at this level.
Here are some select reactions from each of Vlad’s three blasts. (And some amazing footage from the Jays’ social team!)
Bottom of the 3rd: WAS 3 - TOR 0, bases loaded, 1 out, pitching: Scherzer
Bottom of the 5th: WAS 3 - TOR 6, none on, 0 out, pitching: Scherzer
Bottom of the 7th: WAS 5 - TOR 7, runner on 1st, 1 out, pitching: Finnegan
Top image via Sportsnet/MLB; other GIFs via the Toronto Blue Jays/@BlueJays
This season has been frustrating to watch at times, but Vlad has been the obvious exception. And not just on the field...there have been a bunch of other little things that have made him so fun to watch:
- sitting in the dugout with his arm around Bo, gently squeezing Bo's shoulder
- introducing Espinal to Pujols
- coming up from behind Kirk and others in the dugout to give them bear hugs
We love Vlad!!
There probably was good reason to talk about launch angles before, though, since it's one of the major improvements he's made so far (10.9 this year compared 6.5 for his career).
Obviously he's made a lot of improvements but that one stands out to me. I assume you just meant it's nice to just watch him mash and not worry about things like that, but Buck brought it up last night in (at least how I heard it) a dismissive way. Kinda like, "see baseball nerds, who cares about launch angles."
But improved launch angle and improved results happening together aren't exactly surprising considering how hard he hits the ball.