Toronto Blue Jays: Vlad Guerrero Sr to Cooperstown, Vlad Guerrero Jr to Buffalo

As Vladimir Guerrero Sr. closed the book on his career following his enshrinement into the Baseball Hall of Fame, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is opening the book on his Toronto Blue Jays career.

According to Gregor Chisholm on MLB.com, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will be promoted to the Toronto Blue Jays Triple-A affiliate, the Buffalo Bisons, on the same day that his father was inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame.

Vlad Jr. has spent the majority of the 2018 MiLB season with the Blue Jays Double-A affiliate, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.  As a member of the Fisher Cats, he held a .404 batting average, a .449 on-base percentage, and a .671 slugging percentage through 61 games.  As Vlad Jr. is only 19 years old, these numbers are absolutely incredible.

To no surprise, Vlad Jr. was selected to the Eastern League All-Star Game.  He was unfortunately unable to play in the game as he missed time with a left knee strain.  He ended up sitting out from June 6th through July 13th, but he has been phenomenal since his return from injury.

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In 11 games from July 13th through July 27th, he has recorded 15 hits in 42 at-bats for a .357 batting average.  He also added 3 home runs, 7 runs batted in, and scored 8 runs.  He will be leaving Double-A with a 12-game hitting streak as he picked up a hit on June 6th prior to leaving the game with an injury.

Although his father was an outfielder, Vlad Jr. plays third base.  After committing 9 errors in his first 50 professional games at the Rookie level, he committed 15 errors in his next 102 games between Single-A and Single-A+.  In 53 Double-A games, he has only committed 6 errors, so he is also performing well on the defensive side.

According to MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 Prospects list, Vlad Jr. ranks #1 overall.  He does not turn 20 years old until spring training rolls around in 2019. organization has to be thrilled with his progression through the minor league levels to this point.

Vladimir Guerrero Sr. was called up to the MLB at the age of 21 with the Montreal Expos.  He went on to hit 449 career home runs with a career .379 on-base percentage.  It will be interesting to see if Vlad Jr. will end up getting the call to the big leagues at an earlier age than his father.