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Not a whole lot of news has been going on with the Toronto Blue Jays lately. It’s been the same thing all summer, lots of rumors but nothing significant in the way of trades or signings as of yet.
As we inch closer to spring training, rumors slowly start to become a little clearer. As we now believe that the Jays have made an aggressive offer to George Springer. Again though, those are all hypotheticals, nothing concrete.
What is concrete are stats and actual results? Over the winter, we have a few stats from one of the Blue Jays young stars in Vladimir Guerrero Jr. He recently participated in the Dominican Winter League, and in just 10 games, had some decent numbers to show for.
Playing in 10 games with Leones Del Escogido, Guerrero Jr. had 39 at-bats, hitting two home runs and 11 RBI’s. He hit .359/.381/.615 to go along with four doubles and two walks.
He moved back to third base in those 10 games, totaling four errors. To put that in perspective, he had only three errors in all of 2020 with the Blue Jays playing first base. Work still needs to be done on his defense. However, the defense wasn’t why Guerrero Jr. was one of the most anticipated prospects in Blue Jays history.
It was from what he could do with the bat in his hand. His numbers were excellent in the winter league, including hitting .359. However, it’s not why the Jays fans should consider his stint in the Winter League a success.
It’s tough to put a ton of stock in the numbers Guerrero Jr. hit because the competition level isn’t easily comparable to the MLB. What he did need to do this off-season was to get in better shape.
We have seen the workout videos; it looks like Guerrero Jr. is easily in the best shape he’s been in since he arrived in Toronto.
Also, playing and hitting those numbers, regardless of the competition level, is great for his confidence. A lot of fans seem to forget that Guerrero Jr. is only 21 years old. He will have just turned 22 when the season is expected to get started.
Guerrero Jr. hasn't hit the ball at the MLB level as well as he would have hoped when he arrived. He hasn't hit above .280 in his first two seasons in the MLB, and he's had some good hot streaks and some not-so-good cold streaks. Confidence is a fragile thing in a young player, especially one with Guerrero’s Jr.'s hype.
Honestly, you can't look at just his numbers and come to the conclusion he's going to take a massive leap forward in his development next season. It's a small sample size in a different league. However, we saw his strength at full display and an improvement in his all-around fitness. If playing in the Dominican Winter League raises Guerrero's confidence heading into the season, that's as big of a win for the Blue Jays as you could ask for from Guerrero Jr.
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