First, a disclaimer: I love Vladimir Guerrero Jr like he’s one of my own sons. In fact, if it were up to me, my wife and I would have another son and call him Vladito (it’s not).
Before I had seen him play a game, the reports I’d read about him led me to label him the Blue Jays top prospect, well before most anointed him with that title.
And while I think he’ll be a generational bat, and will one day join his dad in the first Father-Son Hall of Fame pairing, his line from last night shows why you shouldn’t necessarily rely on minor league stats when evaluating a player. They are usually a good predictor of success, but they need context.
Last night, Guerrero was 3-3, with 6 RBIs, and Twitter was full of his stat line this morning, suggesting a perfect night at the plate. Truth be told, I didn’t think it was one of his best games.
Guerrero’s first AB was a ball hit to the warning track for an out, but it was more than deep enough to score speedy Jonathan Davis from 3rd. Kudos to Guerrero for lofting the ball to score a run, but he hardly scorched it – earlier in that plate appearance, he sent a 114 mph rocket foul down the left field line, leaving me to worry about Fisher Cats Manager John Schneider in the 3rd Base coaching box. Because it was a sacrifice fly, Guerrero was not charged with an AB.
In his second trip to the plate, Vladdy popped a Texas Leaguer just behind 2B. Because the Trenton OF was playing him deep, the SS had to make a twisting catch with his back to home. Davis, on 3rd yet again, alertly tagged and scored on a ball hit maybe 150 ft. No AB charged to Guerrero.
Guerrero’s third At Bat was a groundball to Trenton 3rd Baseman Gosuke Katoh, who was having a bit of a rough night. It was a fairly hard hit ball, but Katoh should’ve had it – an MLB 3rd Baseman certainly would have. Because he didn’t make contact with it, Katoh wasn’t charged with an error, giving Guerrero a hit.
Guerrero’s fourth plate appearance was an intentional walk – no problem there,
Vladdy’s next two ABs were legit – a HR off the batter’s eye against Jose Mesa Jr, who does have a good track record, but has been hit hard so far this season. In the 9th, he doubled down the LF line.
So, for the night, he was 3-3, and drove in 6 runs. Impressive totals, and his first multi-hit game in AA, but in 6 plate appearances, the hardest ball he hit on the night may have been that foul down the 3rd base line. He was fortunate to have Davis on 3rd twice, and a 3rd Baseman who did a matador routine on a ground ball. But in the boxscore, it’s 3-3.
Of course, maybe these things even out over the course of a season. And this is in no way a criticism of Guerrero, and you can just as easily hit the ball hard all four times up in a game and go 0-4. It does show that minor league stats taken out of context can be misleading. You have to be good to be lucky, and sometimes it’s the other way around, like it was to some extent for Guerrero last night. He still did have two no-doubt hits, but change the circumstances of the game, and he’s 2-5, or even 2-6.
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One observation about both Guerrero and Bo Bichette: both hunt the fastball early in the count, and they showed a little bit of vulnerability on offspeed pitches in fastball counts.
Of course, this is kind of like saying the Mona Lisa is great, but it’s too bad she didn’t smile a bit more.
Guerrero and Bichette have such excellent pitch recognition and strike zone judgement that they tend to get the benefit of the doubt from minor league umpires when they take a borderline pitch. And unlike average hitters, they rarely expand their strike zones, even when behind in the count. It’s early in the AA season, but both look to be in complete control at the plate.
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Jon Harris has come in for more than his fair share of criticism for his performance last year. After a decent 2016, the 2015 first rounder gave up a lot of contact last year, with Eastern League hitters batting .287 against him.
Harris does not have one overwhelming pitch. He relies on a combination of sequencing and command in order to get hitters out. If one of those two components is off, he tends to get hit. If they’re working together, his secondary pitches become much more effective.
Harris got into trouble in last night’s start by falling behind the first three hitters he faced, and ended up in a bases loaded/no out jam in the bottom of the 1st. Harris regrouped, and limited the damage by giving up a sac fly, then got a swinging K and a groundout to escape the inning.
Harris’ command sharpened in the 2nd inning, when he retired the side in order. He got into trouble again the 3rd, giving up back-to-back singles to start the inning, but he kept the ball down, and used ground balls to get out of the inning unscathed.
Harris then set down Trenton in order in the 4th and 5th before reaching his pitch limit.
Harris does not overpower hitters. He pitches to contact, and needs to stay ahead of hitters in order to get them out. When he’s locating and pitching in favourable counts, he’s a much better Pitcher.
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Two seasons ago, the Blue Jays employed a veteran minor league Catcher in Ryan Lavarnway in order to work with their young Pitchers, Conner Greene in particular. Lavarnway had known Greene since he was a youngster, and played with his older brother.
This year, Toronto is using journeyman minor league backstop Patrick Cantwell in tandem with Max Pentecost. Cantwell, a 2012 3rd round pick of Texas, has bounced around the minors, reaching AAA in 2015. With Pentecost unable to catch every day, and with young Pitchers like Sean Reid-Foley on the roster (Pentecost caught his first start), Cantwell fills an important role for the Fisher Cats, serving in a Crash Davis-like role. When Harris got into that first inning jam, a visit from Cantwell seem to help re-focus him and helped him turn the frame around.
