The Toronto Blue Jays drafted Texas senior first baseman Kacy Clemens on Tuesday, and that means the Toronto farm system includes sons of former MLB stars Roger Clemens, Craig Biggio, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Dante Bichette.
And we’re going to hear plenty more in the coming years about the sons of Guerrero and Bichette, especially.
Bo Bichette (19 years old) and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (18) currently form the most exciting middle of the order in the minor leagues for the Single-A Lansing Lugnuts. However, it seems unlikely that Bichette will be in the Midwest League much longer.
Bichette — a second-round pick in 2016 — went 7-for-8 with a homer in Lansing’s doubleheader sweep over the South Bend Cubs on Thursday, and now has an absurd .400/.468/.645 slash line.
https://twitter.com/keithlaw/status/875554404870574080
A player I did not miss on (so far, of course) is Bo Bichette. He's 6-for-6 today and just obliterating Single-A pitching. Love the bat.
— Christopher Crawford (@Crawford_MILB) June 16, 2017
The opposing team's broadcast just said they should pass a hat around the league to raise money to get Bichette moved up a league
— Clint (@_ClintB_) June 15, 2017
The Blake Street Bomber’s son leads the Midwest League in batting average (by 71 points), on-base percentage (by 55 points), slugging percentage (by 85 points), and OPS (by 159 points).
And second place in the Midwest League in on-base percentage? That would be Vladimir Jr. with a .413 on-base percentage, to go with a .324 batting average and .472 slugging percentage. The Canadian-born third baseman just turned 18 years old in March and is already destroying A-ball.
I'm very proud of my son. He was named to the Midwestern League All Star. Thank God for so many blessings.@BlueJays pic.twitter.com/X2RXWrbfym
— Vladimir Guerrero (@VladGuerrero27) June 14, 2017
Vlad Jr. — signed by Toronto as an international free agent in 2015 — was ranked as the No. 16 prospect in baseball according to Baseball America in May, and should be threatening the top-10 on midseason prospect lists. He’s a special talent, and that’s certainly not all that surprising after we just watched his dad put together a Hall of Fame-worthy career.
So, the future looks very bright in Toronto, and it will be fun following the minor-league progress of Bichette and Guerrero. At this rate, it may not be too long before we see them in the big leagues.
[Photo Credit: MiLB]
