Vladdy day to day after exiting with left middle finger discomfort
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CINCINNATI -- Vladimir Guerrero Jr. exited Sunday afternoon during a 10-3 win at Great American Ball Park with left middle finger discomfort, dampening an otherwise incredible day for the Blue Jays’ offense.
Guerrero lost his bat on a big swing against Hunter Greene in the top of the fourth, but he finished that at-bat and took a walk. When the Blue Jays ran out for the bottom half, though, Cavan Biggio took Guerrero’s place at first.
“He said that he was fine and finished the at-bat,” manager John Schneider said after the game. “It’s left middle finger discomfort, and that’s kind of happened to him before a bit. It was weird when he lost his bat. He’s day to day, but we’re expecting him to be fine.”
Guerrero is batting .265 with 18 home runs and a .775 OPS this season, all well below expectations for the young star who finished second in AL MVP voting just two years ago. There have been moments where it looked like it was all about to click for him, most notably when he was coming off his win in the 2023 T-Mobile Home Run Derby, but Guerrero has not been able to sustain those bursts of power.
Along with Biggio, the Blue Jays have Brandon Belt as an option at first base, so they’ll be covered positionally if Guerrero needs to miss any amount of time.
Combine Biggio’s versatility with the fact that Toronto also has Whit Merrifield, Davis Schneider and Santiago Espinal on the roster, and this doesn’t necessarily point to a first baseman being needed in a worst-case scenario. If the Blue Jays chose to go that route, though, No. 17 prospect Spencer Horwitz has been playing his best baseball of the season. Since returning to Triple-A Buffalo following a brief MLB promotion earlier this season, Horwitz is batting .364 with an incredible .471 on-base percentage and a 1.055 OPS.
Monday’s off-day comes at a great time for Guerrero, and if this is as minor as it sounds, the hope is that he’ll be good to go in time for the Blue Jays’ crucial three-game series against the Orioles beginning Tuesday in Baltimore.