{"id":20037,"date":"2021-05-01T22:58:39","date_gmt":"2021-05-02T03:58:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/?p=20037"},"modified":"2021-05-02T05:37:33","modified_gmt":"2021-05-02T10:37:33","slug":"toronto-blue-jays-vladimir-guerrero-jr-has-an-offensive-night-to-remember-against-washington-nationals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myboysay.com\/blog\/?p=20037","title":{"rendered":"Toronto Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has an offensive night to remember against Washington Nationals"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The biggest declaration of this young baseball season: Vladimir Guerrero Jr<\/a>. now officially carries a very loud, very lethal and very powerful bat.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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@JrVladimil<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Guerrero launched three home runs and drove in seven runs in the host Toronto Blue Jays<\/a>‘ 9-5 victory over the Washington Nationals<\/a> on Tuesday. Two were off Max Scherzer<\/a>, one of which was a laser-beam grand slam in the third inning that traveled 415 feet and had a 108-mph exit velocity.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

That wasn’t even his hardest or farthest home run of the night. In the fifth inning off Scherzer, Guerrero crushed one at 110.5 mph, 436 feet into the Florida night.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Guerrero is hitting .360\/.484\/.693 with seven home runs. At 22 years old, he became the youngest player ever with a three-homer, seven-RBI game. In the expansion era since 1961, only Boog Powell and Corey Seager<\/a> were younger when they hit three home runs in a game. Vladimir Guerrero Sr., Vladdy’s Hall of Fame father, never hit three home runs in a game. Dad was impressed with his son’s historic game:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Avg.360 <\/strong><\/p>\n

7 HR <\/strong><\/p>\n

19 RBI<\/strong><\/p>\n

Proud dad! \u2764\ufe0f#VG27<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014 Vladimir Guerrero (@VladGuerrero27) April 28, 2021<\/a><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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What a night for my boy. \ud83d\udd25\ud83d\udd25 All the hard work is paying off. \ud83d\ude4f\ud83c\udffd#VG27<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014 Vladimir Guerrero (@VladGuerrero27) April 28, 2021<\/a><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Senior can relate to one thing, however: He homered off Scherzer back in 2010, when he played for the Rangers and Scherzer was pitching for the Tigers, and again in 2011 when he was with the Orioles. The Guerreros join this list of father-son duos to homer off a Cy Young winner:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 Ken Griffey Sr. and Jr. homered off Dennis Eckersley, Bob Welch and Rick Sutcliffe<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Hal McRae and Brian McRae homered off Eckersley<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Jose Cruz Sr. and Jr. homered off Orel Hershiser<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Vern Law and Vance Law homered off Gaylord Perry<\/strong><\/p>\n

More than the fun factoids, however, this feels like a statement game.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When the 2021 season began, everybody had climbed aboard the hype train of young superstars: Fernando Tatis Jr<\/a>., Ronald Acuna Jr<\/a>. and Juan Soto<\/a> — with good reason. Guerrero wasn’t considered on their level.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When Guerrero came up in 2019 at age 20, he was good at the plate but not great. Meanwhile, Soto came up in 2018 at 19, became an immediate star and then tore it up in the World Series in 2019. Acuna came up in 2018, became an immediate star and then hit 41 home runs and stole 37 bases in 2019. Tatis came up in 2019 and was a dynamo of power and speed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Guerrero arrived in the majors as perhaps the most ballyhooed prospect since Griffey Jr. reached the majors as a teenager in 1989. He was viewed as the best hitting prospect in a long time. Scouts were comfortable putting an 80-grade tool on his bat. In the minors, he hit for average, hit prodigious home runs and did it all while rarely striking out. He also showed much better plate discipline than his dad, who was one of the more notorious free swingers in the history of the game.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In this Tik Tok world of short attention spans, we expected immediate greatness from Guerrero, forgetting that baseball is hard and that, despite the glowing debuts from Soto, Acuna and Tatis, most young players need time to figure out major league pitching.<\/strong><\/p>\n