The Toronto Blue Jays have the face of their franchise in first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. He is a four-time All-Star and has already achieved a place among the top two MVPs at just 25 years old. The Blue Jays could have traded Guerrero at this year’s MLB transfer deadline, but they kept him because of his star talent and his big name. Victor Martinez is a five-time All-Star and coach at Toronto. He had quite a compliment for Guerrero.
Guerrero was standing in front of the cameras after the game telling his father’s story when Victor Martinez stopped by,” wrote Keegan Matheson of MLB.com. “Martinez works as a special assistant with the Blue Jays and has overlapped with Vlad Sr. in the major leagues for years. When Martinez stopped by, he waited for his moment between questions and said, ‘He’s going to be better than his dad.'”
Vladimir Guerrero Sr. has a career average of .318 and hit 449 home runs in his 16-year career. A member of the 2018 Hall of Fame class, Guerrero is one of five Dominican-born players in Cooperstown and was the first player to wear an Angels cap on his plaque.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. still has a long way to go to catch up to his father. If Martinez is right, the Blue Jays will be a force in the American League for many years to come.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s journey to catch up with his father
Vlad Jr. is a power hitter and has already surpassed his father’s personal record for a single season with 48 home runs in 2021. He needs to maintain his power numbers and surpass his father’s home run total. As of Friday, he is 296 home runs behind.
Vlad Jr. is currently hitting home runs at his current pace of 32 per 162 games. He would need more than nine full seasons to surpass Vlad Sr.’s 494 at that rate. While the elder Guerrero has been valuable in so many other areas, home runs are the most realistic possibility where his son can catch up to him.
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When it comes to accolades, Gurerro Jr. keeps pace with his father. In nearly six seasons with the Blue Jays, Vlad Jr. has four All-Star appearances, a Silver Slugger, a Gold Glove and a top-three MVP finish. After six seasons with the Expos, his father had three All-Star nominations, two Silver Sluggers, no Gold Gloves and finished sixth in the MVP race.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. needs to win an MVP award to really bring the discussion into the spotlight. His father won his only MVP award in his first season with the Anaheim Angels in 2004. With Aaron Judge, Bobby Witt Jr. and Gunnar Henderson in the American League, Guerrero Jr. has a strong field in the battle for the MVP award.
Victor Martinez has made a pretty bold claim that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will end up being better than his father. Looking at career numbers, the younger Guerrero will need to put together another decade of excellence to overtake his father and join him in Cooperstown.
