Vladdy Report: Player of the Week performance a tough act to follow
After a colossal week that went a long way towards confirming Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s readiness to excel at the big-league level, the 20-year-old’s encore was on the subdued side.
There’s nothing wrong with a home stand that included three multi-hit games, but Vladdy added just one home run to his total, and wasn’t able to repeat the otherworldly BB/K ratio that had him looking like prime Albert Pujols during the previous road trip.
Guerrero Jr. drew more attention for not playing on Victoria Day than anything he did on the field, which was unfortunate because the routine decision was completely out of his hands.
For Blue Jays fans who were hoping that Vladdy was going to win AL Player of the Week every week, the home stand might have been on the disappointing side, but there was nothing to be remotely concerned about.
Here’s an in-depth look at how the phenom fared in a week that was strangely controversial:
The line: 7-for-27 with 1 home run, 1 double, 1 walk, and 6 strikeouts
Best at-bat: Home run vs. Rick Porcello on Wednesday
On a pitch-by-pitch basis, this wasn’t an inspiring trip to the plate, but you can’t really go against a 424-foot home run that was Vladdy’s first at Rogers Centre. The slugger got at least one favourable call that gave him a hitter’s count, then he did some clobbering.
It’s a pure show of strength on Guerrero Jr.’s part. The pitch really isn’t bad — although the low fastball ain’t what it used to be — but the 20-year-old is able to put a straightaway charge into it. With a fastball on the lower-outside corner, a lot of guys would have to take it the other way to make anything happen.
Not Vlad.
Worst at-bat: Grounded into double play vs. Eduardo Rodriguez on Tuesday
This trip to the plate is a classic example of how quickly things can get away from you if your discipline sags for a moment. The first pitch was a good one to hit, but taking it was no crime. By reaching for the second and fouling it off, Vladdy put himself in a hole.
Even on a two-strike count you can only expand the zone so much, and by digging for a pitch he could do nothing with, Guerrero Jr. cost his club two outs. One of the most remarkable things about Vladdy is that he doesn’t have more at-bats like this, but once in a while he’s going to look like a 20-year-old.
How they pitched him:
Coming off his huge week, pitchers were undoubtedly cautious with Guerrero Jr., staying away from the zone where possible and limiting fastballs.
So far in his brief MLB career, Vladdy has mashed both fastballs and changeups, so teams are probably best served feeding him as many breaking balls as humanly possible — even if it results in the odd walk. The Angels were his opponent most committed to that strategy and they held him to 0-for-6 with two walks.
As far as zone rate goes, based on what we’ve seen so far teams are going to hover around 40 percent — which is precisely what guys like Ronald Acuna Jr., Cody Bellinger and Josh Donaldson are seeing.
Defence and base running: Guerrero Jr. continues to chug along in the field at a better-than-expected pace. To be fair, very little was expected of him coming in, but he hasn’t looked totally out of place.
Most weeks he seems to have approximately one error and one notable defensive highlight. This time his best play of the week was this throw from the seat of his pants:
Vladdy from the seat of his pants 😱 #LetsGoBlueJays pic.twitter.com/oVmXLKhDnx
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) May 23, 2019
In between the blunders and the big plays is a guy who’s a bit slow laterally without fantastic range, possessing a great arm. Fielding metrics have him slightly-below average at this point, and the Blue Jays have to be happy with that.
Nothing particularly noteworthy happened on the bases for Vladdy this week, but he didn’t spend too much time on the bases to begin with. His sprint speed is slightly below average and he has no inclination to run, so if he makes headlines here it’ll primarily be for blunders.
More Blue Jays coverage from Yahoo Sports
