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Vlad's star turn at the All-Star game: A retrospective
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Vlad's star turn at the All-Star game: A retrospective

Andrew Stoeten
Jul 14, 2021
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Vlad's star turn at the All-Star game: A retrospective
stoeten.substack.com

The Blue Jays were represented by four All-Stars in Denver on Tuesday night, but only one superstar. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. became the first Blue Jays player, and the youngest player ever, to win an All-Star MVP award. Here’s a look back at his time in the Mile High City.

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The week had already been a big one for Vladdy heading into Tuesday night. On Monday afternoon it was announced that he’s joined the star-studded ranks of athletes sponsored by Jordan Brand.

Twitter avatar for @Jumpman23Jordan @Jumpman23
“MJ is an inspiration to me, as someone who worked hard every time he stepped on the court – to always give his best. Being part of his family makes me very proud.” We chat with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. about joining Jumpman, handling pressure in the MLB, and his family. More here

July 13th 2021

96 Retweets679 Likes

Later on Monday night was, of course, the home run derby — an event that Vlad thoroughly impressed at when he appeared in it back in 2019. Vlad had chosen not to participate in this year’s derby, telling reporters late last month that he wants “to stay healthy for 162 games and, yes, I want to take that opportunity, those days, to rest a little bit — my body and my mind and just get ready for the second half.”

Presumably, he also didn’t want to do anything to muck about with his swing, which this season he has fine-tuned into a work of art. The Mets’ Pete Alonso, who beat Vladdy in the finals of the 2019 competition, won again. But Vlad — who, like all the other All-Stars, was there on the field on Monday — apparently was most anxious to meet a different superstar.

Twitter avatar for @MarlyRiveraESPNMarly Rivera @MarlyRiveraESPN
Buenos días ☀️ A few pictures I was unable to share yesterday coming your way! Starting with two of the biggest stars in the game, who met for the first time last night. Vladdy (shyly) asked me to please ask Ohtani’s translator if he could talk and introduce himself to Shohei!
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July 13th 2021

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Fast forward to Monday, and Vlad arrived for the big game in style — with a little help from another of his fellow faces of MLB, Fernando Tatís Jr.

Twitter avatar for @LaVidaBaseballLa Vida Baseball @LaVidaBaseball
Vladdy Jr. got some fashion advice from "el hombre del flow" Fernando Tatís Jr. #AllStarGame | @Chica_Deportes
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July 13th 2021

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Vlad’s stylish exploits also extended beyond the red carpet. In the field he wore a custom first baseman’s mitt adorned with the now iconic photo of him as a small child in Expos gear on the field with his Hall of Fame father.

Twitter avatar for @saucycatchessaucycatches @saucycatches
Vlad Jr.’s glove for the All-Star Game is beautiful.
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July 14th 2021

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Vlad, as he does, started off the game conspicuously. AL manager Kevin Cash batted him second — as savvy managers do — behind Ohtani, and the youngster managed to smash what would hold up as the hardest hit ball of the night. Unfortunately for Vlad, he didn’t hit it in the air. Fortunately for him, even though it was about head high, he managed not to decapitate his future Blue Jays teammate, three-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer. *COUGH*

Twitter avatar for @SchusteeBlake Schuster @Schustee
This photo of Vlad almost hitting Scherzer.
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July 14th 2021

94 Retweets502 Likes

It was, of course, in his next at-bat that Guerrero truly put his stamp on the game. With two outs in the third, Milwaukee Brewers ace Corbin Burnes threw a slider to a spot where you, uh, do not want to throw pitches to Vladdy.

The result was as spectacular as it was predictable: a 468 foot moonshot — the longest of Vlad’s career — into the thin Colorado air.

The immediate reactions of Tatís Jr. — who was in the middle of conducting an in-game interview when Vlad smashed it — and Burnes really said it all.

Of course, they were far from the only ones in the ballpark who were impressed.

Twitter avatar for @cheechoo98Ed Chee @cheechoo98
The expressions of the ppl behind home plate!! especially the lady taking off her sunglasses to see the Vladdy HR even better! Amazing!
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July 14th 2021

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Twitter avatar for @AllStarGameAll-Star Game @AllStarGame
First #AllStarGame homer for Vlad Jr. 💪
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July 14th 2021

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Twitter avatar for @lindseyadlerLindsey Adler @lindseyadler
This child just hit a baseball 468 feet
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July 14th 2021

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Twitter avatar for @MarcCarigMarc Carig @MarcCarig
Per Statcast, Vlad Guerrero Jr.’s ASG blast would have been a homer in all 423 national parks.

July 14th 2021

83 Retweets689 Likes
Twitter avatar for @Cut4Cut4 @Cut4
The Spanish play-by-play call of Vlad Jr.’s home run is ELECTRIC. #HazloGrande
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July 14th 2021

401 Retweets2,558 Likes

Worth noting here that this was the 13th farthest hit baseball of the season — an impressive feat considering it came in the All-Star game off a pitcher with video game-like numbers this year. Burnes has struck out 128 and walked just 15 over 87 2/3 innings, leading to a 2.36 ERA, a 1.37 FIP, and 4.2 fWAR. Of the 345 batters he's faced this season, only three had hit the ball over the fence before this run-in with Vlad.

Vlad would go on to pick up another RBI on a groundout in the fifth — cashing in teammate Teoscar Hernández, who had led off the inning with a double. Hernández would later say that he knew he had to score in order to help Vlad’s MVP chances, something the Blue Jays’ contingent was clearly cognizant of throughout the game.

“All he’s thinking about right now is the MVP,” Hernández said during the seventh, according to the Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. “When I was at third and he was hitting, I was ready to score because he needed that RBI to get more chances to win the MVP. I said, ‘If he wins the MVP, he has to give me something. Not half, but something.’”

The positivity and high spirits that Blue Jays fans have become accustomed from their group of young players to were on full display to the world in Denver, and it was really a joy to watch.

Per Rosenthal:

Guerrero gestured in mock outrage at Aaron Judge when the Yankees slugger failed to score on a double by Rafael Devers. He flexed his arms in a weight-lifting motion after Fernando Tatis Jr. flied out to center, teasing his friend and fellow Dominican for being too weak to hit a homer. He took a selfie in the dugout with Rays first-base coach Ozzie Timmons, who later acknowledged, “I mess with him at first all the time.” 

Importantly, he adds:

Not that Guerrero is incapable of being serious. He held a Stand Up To Cancer sign in honor of the Orioles’ Trey Mancini, who participated in the Home Run Derby after missing the 2020 season with colon cancer. And in the post-game ceremony announcing his MVP award, he paid tribute to his father, Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero Sr.

The MVP award did, of course, end up in Guerrero’s hands at the end of the game, as the AL beat the NL by a score of 5-2. And it’s a good thing, too. Vlad might have had some angry teammates otherwise!

Twitter avatar for @thehazelmaeHazel Mae @thehazelmae
Vladdy Jr. said he can’t wait to see George Springer and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. Before he left the team, Vladdy promised he was going to be the All Star Game MVP. They told him he better be or “don’t come back.” 😆#BlueJays

July 14th 2021

157 Retweets2,405 Likes

The bond between these Jays players really is impossible not to notice.

Twitter avatar for @Ken_RosenthalKen Rosenthal @Ken_Rosenthal
Here is a photo of Blue Jays All-Stars Teoscar Hernández and Bo Bichette FaceTiming with Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in the ninth inning. Vlad Jr. was to Bichette’s right, but with my sub-replacement level photography skills, I couldn’t fit him in the frame.
theathletic.com/2706283/2021/0…
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July 14th 2021

69 Retweets846 Likes

Their humility is hard not to notice either.

Twitter avatar for @InheritedRunnrsJake 👼🏻 @InheritedRunnrs
Vlad Jr. in an interview for Radio postgame (via his translator): “While I’m honored to have won All Star Game MVP, I thought Ohtani probably deserved it. First player ever to pitch and hit as an All-Star? This is his week. He deserves this” Truly selfless 🙌🏻
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July 14th 2021

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Twitter avatar for @GregorChisholmGregor Chisholm @GregorChisholm
If there was a popularity contest voted on by the players, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. might win it in a landslide. Everybody just seems to love the guy. Big difference from a few years ago when Jays were one of the least popular teams in the league. #BlueJays

July 14th 2021

24 Retweets445 Likes

The Blue Jays team as a whole may not be quite on the level of its young superstar just yet, but there is no better recruitment tool available to the front office right now than the beaming face of their boy wonder and the infectious amounts of fun seemingly had by everyone within his orbit.

Things change, people change, the arcs of careers and franchises are long and often unpredictable. We can’t know how the future of the Toronto Blue Jays will go, but we certainly know that this is a moment worth savouring. We can also know that the team appears to be in great hands. An All-Star game MVP obviously isn’t the most important trophy in the grand scheme of things, but for Vlad to be this good, this young, and this important to the game of baseball is an incredible reality that is unlike anything Jays fans have ever experienced. The man has stuff headed to the Hall of Fame and he’s only 22!

Twitter avatar for @Shesta_HOFJon Shestakofsky @Shesta_HOF
Congrats to Vlad Guerrero Jr., the youngest MVP in All-Star Game history! The batting helmet and batting gloves he wore in tonight’s game are headed to the @baseballhall. Thank you, Vladdy!
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July 14th 2021

55 Retweets512 Likes

I tend to not be a huge fan of All-Star games, in general. I tell myself that they’re for marketing. They’re for the kids. They’re not for me anymore. But this one ended up being for the biggest kid of all, and boy did he deliver. Vlad’s performance was pure entertainment and an outstanding reminder that this Blue Jays team deserves help as the trade deadline approaches, and deserves to come home to their fans in Toronto (which sadly isn’t sounding as likely at the moment as it did earlier in the week).

The game, the performance, the camaraderie showed, I think, that baseball is at its best right now when the Blue Jays on its biggest stage. Baseball needs the Blue Jays —this season, and for a long time to come.

What a world! And congrats, Vlad.

Top image via @MLB

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BobTV
Jul 14, 2021

I was smiling and near tears reading this article. Like a proud Dad.

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Rob
Jul 14, 2021Liked by Andrew Stoeten

I'm sure Vladdy will make it up properly to Scherzer after the Jays trade for him at the deadline. Really good recruitment "Come to our team, I won't kill you with the baseball"

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