The Vladdy Jr. Show: He’s leaner, his bat is meaner and he’s returning to Sahlen Field

With the Jays playing the first two months of home games at their spring home in Dunedin, Fla., Guerrero had a three-homer game in April against Washington as two of the blows came off Nationals ace Max Scherzer. In an extra-inning loss Monday against Tampa Bay, he singlehandedly helped the Blue Jays erase a 5-0 deficit with two bombs, one a 464-footer to left and the other a clutch two-run shot in the eighth to tie the game.

Guerrero burst out of the batter’s box jumping, screaming and exhorting his dugout after that one. He doesn’t consider himself a home run hitter per se and isn’t trying to go deep. But in that moment, he knew what his swing meant to the game.

“Things happen in the game, emotions,” Guerrero said through an interpreter. “At that moment, we already lost three games against Tampa and I had the chance to tie it up. It was a big lift for us, for myself, for the team. We want to go out there and and we’re trying to win the game, no matter what. It was a lot of emotions when I hit that home run. I was looking for a pitch that I wanted, he gave it to me and I put a good contact on the ball.”

Finally matching the hype

We’ve seen Vladdy Jr. in Buffalo before, of course, as a hot prospect and he didn’t disappoint here, going .336-6-16 in 30 games for the Herd in 2018 before leaving for Toronto for good the following April.