Surging Guerrero vying to be AL's starting 1B in ASG

This story was excerpted from Keegan Matheson’s Blue Jays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

TORONTO -- For Vladimir Guerrero Jr., more than anyone on the Blue Jays’ roster, the feeling matters.

Guerrero feels so alive again, beaming with that childlike joy that’s come and gone over the years. His emotions bleed into his game, which can be Guerrero’s superpower when he wrangles them properly.

It’s all there again, with Guerrero hitting six home runs in an eight-game stretch. Guerrero is an All-Star starter finalist now -- voting for Phase 2 runs through noon ET on Wednesday -- and he has done enough to earn his fourth career selection.

Even in between his recent home runs, though, everything Guerrero touches is a rocket. Friday night’s game against the Yankees eventually spiraled into an ugly 16-5 loss, but Guerrero’s home run to right-center field in the seventh inning briefly felt like the moment that would turn it.

Guerrero stood in the box and watched the ball soar, then slowly stepped over home plate as it crashed into the bleachers. He took his bat and launched it -- like he was throwing a football -- towards the Blue Jays’ dugout. While his bat flew through the air, Guerrero was shouting back to his teammates, roaring with the crowd.

Saturday afternoon, he did it again and drove in six runs. When Guerrero is this loose, anything can happen.

“He’s serious in here, then you see the looseness in the dugout and on the field,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “We have to talk to him about it sometimes in a game context, but that’s when he’s at his best. He’s like a big teddy bear. When he’s like that, it allows everyone else to feel the same way. Most people are not as loose as him. By demonstrating that, I think it takes a little bit of pressure off the other guys.”

It’s showing up in smaller ways, too. In the fifth inning on Friday, Guerrero was up with the bases loaded and beat out a potential 6-4-3 double play at first base. It wasn’t the dream outcome, but it scored a run. As Guerrero blew through first base and signaled himself safe -- finally, the aspiring umpire got a call right -- he slammed his mighty hands together eight times.

When Guerrero is struggling, you don’t see this same spark. You see a hitter who has retreated into his own head at times, far from the young star we came to know as a prospect. I’ve often said over the years that when Guerrero is going through a tough patch, the Blue Jays should tell him to stroll into the clubhouse at 6:55 p.m., throw on a uniform and just go play. Guerrero needs to be free and easy.

With his mind right, Guerrero’s swing looks as good as it has in a couple of years. He’s unloading in a violent flourish, not just punishing baseballs, but lifting them.

“Thursday’s homer was a ball inside. The [Carlos] Carrasco homer [on June 21] was a ball inside,” Schneider said. “That just leads you to believe that his swing is functioning properly. It’s usually about pitch selection, but right now, he’s not forcing it to try to get the ball in the air, if that makes sense. I think he was trying to do that a bit at the beginning of the year. His swing path is just in a good spot right now.”

It feels like that fear is coming back for pitchers, too. This still isn’t anything close to what we saw in 2021, but slowly, it’s starting to feel like Guerrero is taking control of games again.

“If you hang something, he’s going to hit it like he did over the Green Monster,” Schneider said.

The Blue Jays need this. The only thing that can save Toronto's season at this point is a long winning streak, and it needs to happen in the next few weeks before this organization is forced to make tough decisions at the Trade Deadline.

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For that to happen, the Blue Jays are going to need to steal some games along the way. It still feels very unlikely, but even coming off these seasons that have felt disappointing, that potential is still in Guerrero.

When Vladdy’s having fun, I’m willing to bet you are, too.