Vladimir Guerrero should have been playing ball in Toronto last year. He’s one of the best young players MLB has to offer and is one of our favorites to win Rookie of the Year in 2019. Yet the Toronto Blue Jays still won’t commit to any timeline for the star to begin his career in the big leagues.
On Thursday, Blue Jays general manager said of Guerrero: “There’s no firm timeline on when he arrives or when he is playing in Toronto for the first time, but we want to make sure he’s the best possible third baseman and the best possible hitter he can be,” per Keegan Matheson of Baseball Toronto.
On the one hand, we kind of understand why an executive would say such a thing. Everything has to be earned — nothing is given.
On the other hand, it sure seems like Guerrero has done plenty to justify a first-class ticket to the big leagues already. In fact, last year as Toronto refused to call him up there was talk of a potential grievance being filed due to what many felt was the Blue Jays committing blatant service-time manipulation.
All Guerrero has done since beginning his minor league career at the age of 19 is dominate. Last year, he crushed Double-A pitching, posting a .402 average and 1.122 OPS in 61 games. He was promoted to Triple-A and continued to dominate, posting a .336 average and .978 OPS in 30 games. All told, he also crushed 20 home runs (at one point hitting a homer in four straight games) and had 78 RBI.
It’s time. This young man is ready to make the leap.