The #1 prospect in baseball will finally make his debut this Friday for the Toronto Blue Jays. With Vlad Jr. making his grand entrance this week, a new era of baseball has officially begun in Toronto.
Fans of Canada’s only MLB team have been calling on management to bring up baseball’s number 1 prospect for over a month now. While fans knew his arrival wouldn’t be on the start of opening day, Vladimir Guerrero Jr’s (aka “Vlad Jr.”) arrival to the Toronto Blue Jays signals the official passing of the torch of a franchise who is going to shift their focus on rebuilding the team to win in the future.
What I mean by this statement is that fans and the front office know the Guerrero will not be able to put the team on his back and carry them to the postseason. He needs a supporting cast of MLB players who can go the distance and provide the team with an opportunity to win every night the team takes the field.
When you look at the organization top to bottom, there is a lot of names to get excited about.
The Blue Jays have 4 players within the top 100 prospects of 2019, and there are players within the top 10 list on the Blue Jays alone who are excelling at both AA and AAA.
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After Guerrero Jr., the team boasts one of the best all-around prospects in the game in Bo Bichette. While he is currently recovering from a broken hand, Bichette is going to be a player to watch this year and next as he progresses towards becoming an everyday MLB player. His power at the plate and his defensive ability at SS makes him an impressive player who will be a mainstay at the major league level
The next two top prospects are both hard-throwing right-handers in Nate Pearson and Eric Pardinho. Pearson is further along in the system due to his experience and his age, but Pardinho has a lot of upside given he is still only a teenager and was striking out men who were 4-5 years older than him (and with a considerable amount of professional baseball experience).
Pardinho is also currently on the injured list with a sore elbow, and if the injury is serious (I’m not going to say the dreaded words), then this would really cause a snag in his development to the MLB.
Both of these pitchers will most likely not make the team this year or the next, but look for them to possible feature in 2021 and 2022 as a lethal duo in the starting rotation. Pearson does have a chance to make the team next year, but he needs to move to AA in 2019 in order for the 2020 goal to be a reality.
Follow this up with a supporting cast of impressive talent like Cavan Biggio, Kevin Smith, Orelvis Martinez, Adam Kloffenstein, and Jordan Groshans, the Toronto Blue Jays are looking to have quite an impressive future in front of them. Given the organization traded away a lot of star prospects for the playoff runs in 2015 and 2016, the Jays organization boasts one of the top farm systems in the league.
So while Vlad Jr. will most likely be an impressive player over his career, the supporting cast of players like Bichette and Pearson is what will make Toronto a playoff team once again.
The only problem is Blue Jays fans will have to be patient as they wait for these players to not only make the major leagues but also get enough experience to be comfortable and excel while playing every day against the best pitchers/players in the world.
If I was a betting man, I say the Blue Jays will be ready for a playoff run in 4 years. This will allow a lot of the major league ready prospects to gain experience under the bright lights but also determine who will stay for the long term.
The keyword will be patience. Be patient on the kids and let them make their mistakes, and sure enough, a playoff team may appear in the not so distant future.
Besides, many Jays fans are also Toronto Maple Leafs fans, so they should have patience already down.