Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is showing the world why he was baseball’s top prospect — and a generationally special hitting prospect — entering the 2019 season. Following an underwhelming first two seasons in the bigs, Guerrero is putting up otherworldly numbers in 2021.
In Monday night’s game against the Boston Red Sox, Guerrero crushed a home run to tie the game 1-1 in the top of the ninth inning. It was a 451-foot dinger with an exit velocity of 114.7 mph. It’s already Guerrero’s fourth homer of at least 450 feet this season.
Vlad Guerrero Jr. has 4 HR 450+ ft in 2021. That's tied for the most in @MLB (O'Neill). pic.twitter.com/ZX5PJY5tS3
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) June 15, 2021
That’s Guerrero’s league-leading 22nd homer of the season, three homers ahead of the San Diego Padres’ Fernando Tatís Jr.
Guerrero also leads the majors in on-base percentage (.451), slugging percentage (.697), and wins above replacement (4.2) per FanGraphs. He even leads the American League in batting average (.346; trails only the Cincinnati Reds’ Nick Castellanos — .360 — in MLB).
Some evaluators and fans viewed Guerrero’s 2019-20 performance as disappointing, but he didn’t even turn 22 until this March. It frequently takes time for these things to come together, and Guerrero is making it clear that he was very, very deserving up the prospect hype.
Unfortunately for Guerrero after his clutch blast, the Red Sox went on to win the game 2-1.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.