Toronto Blue Jays scouting report on Vladimir Guerrero, Jr.
In the first of our series of scouting reports from our top 150 prospects list, we cover our #1 prospect, Toronto Blue Jays star Vladimir Guerrero, Jr.
As part of our minor league coverage with Call To The Pen, we will be putting together a scouting report on each of the top 25 players on our recently-published top 150 prospects list. Today, we begin with #1 on that list, Toronto Blue Jays infielder Vladimir Guerrero, Jr.
Player Profile
Guerrero has been known around Major League Baseball circles for his entire life. Having a father who is a Major League Baseball Hall of Fame player helps with that!
When Vladdy came on the international market, he wasn’t going to come cheap due to his name and talent, but he also wanted to weigh the situation he was going into as well. The Toronto Blue Jays ended up being the winners of the Guerrero Junior sweepstakes in the summer of 2015, signing the young Dominican for $3.9 million.
Vladdy’s first professional assignment was Bluefield in the advanced rookie Appalachian League, where Guerrero was playing primarily against recent college draftees. His performance against players predominantly 5 years his senior was incredibly impressive, however, as he hit .271/.359/.449 with a 33/35 BB/K ratio over 62 games with 12 doubles, 3 triples, 8 home runs, and 15 stolen bases.
After that first year, he made enough of an impression that he was Baseball America’s #20 overall prospect in their top 100 list and #34 on MLB Pipeline’s list.
At just 18 in 2017, Guerrero played across both A-ball levels in the Jays organization, hitting a combined .323/.425/.485 with 28 doubles, 2 triples, 13 home runs, and 8 stolen bases, posting a 76/62 BB/K ratio over 527 plate appearances. He rocketed up rankings to the #3 prospect with both BA and Pipeline and #4 on Baseball Prospectus’ list.
Vladdy’s 2018 was spent primarily in the upper levels of the minor leagues in the Toronto Blue Jays system, though an injury mid-season did mean he spent some time at the GCL and high-A level rehabbing. Overall, he had an incredible stat line, slashing .381/.437/.636 with 29 doubles, a triple, 20 home runs, and 3 steals in 408 plate appearances while posting a 37/38 BB/K ratio. Incredibly, once promoted to AAA, he was even more impressive with his eye, posting a 15/10 BB/K over 128 plate appearances.
Guerrero then went to the Arizona Fall League, where he put on a show at times, but in general, he exhibited his advanced contact skills, with a .351/.409/.442 line over 88 plate appearances. He was the #1 consensus prospect with BA, Pipeline, and BP.