The Legend of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Keeps Growing

This article originally appeared on VICE Sports Canada.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is barely 17. He has not yet played his first professional game. But he is a big boy, and on the practice fields of the Blue Jays' minor-league complex in Dunedin, Florida, his legend is growing.

So far, the stories focus on batting practice home runs. Some are laser-like line drives. Others describe majestic arcs. If Jays broadcaster Jerry Howarth were calling a Guerrero batting practice, he would turn hoarse shouting, "Let's admire that one!"

On a recent morning, Guerrero hit one over the trees behind the left-field fence of the Jays' northeastern practice field. Beyond the fence lies a softball diamond used by local recreational teams. Had there been a softball game in progress, the centre fielder might have been able to catch Guerrero's blast.

"Oh, he's going to be fun to watch, I'll tell you that," says Gil Kim, the Jays' new director of player development.

Kim is smiling. So are the coaches at the complex, and so, with a touch of awe and envy, are the other young prospects—mere striplings in comparison—who get to watch Guerrero every day. He is already fun to watch.

This is the already-famous son of a famous father. The father is a legend in the Dominican Republic. Vladimir Sr. started his celebrated career with the Montreal Expos in 1996. Vlad Jr. was born in Montreal in 1999. He was a pudgy kid.

He grew very big and very powerful with a bat in his hands, and last summer, Vlad. Jr. signed with the Blue Jays as an international free agent for $3.9 million. Twenty-two years earlier, Expos scout Fred Ferreira signed his father for $2,000, according to this Sports Illustrated profile. Other sources say the bonus was $3,500, but you get the picture.

Gil Kim scouted for the Texas Rangers before joining the Blue Jays in January. He first saw Guerrero when the kid was 14, and like a lot of other scouts, he stayed hot on the trail.

"Not as hot as I should've been," Kim says, considering that the Jays won the bidding war.

"He's a great kid, obviously from great baseball bloodlines," Kim says. "Wilton Guerrero, his uncle, has an academy there in Nizao, where they're from, and he trains a lot of good young prospects in the Dominican. He does a great job with them."

Wilton spent four of his eight years in the big leagues with the Expos. In the late 1990s, Vlad Sr. and Wilton were teammates in Montreal. One year they combined to hit 46 homers. Vlad Sr. hit 44.

Vlad Jr. started taking baseball seriously when he was 7 years old. His dad had provided the genes. His uncle took care of the lessons.

"Wilton has a pretty intense program there—physically intense, mentally intense," Kim says. "It's a big workload. It's long days. For a young kid, it's taxing. But they work through it, and he inspires them."

Young Vlad grew scary big as a teenager. He stands 6'1" and the Jays list his weight at 200 pounds, which might be on the conservative side. Like his dad, he has a high waist and a big butt. But in his prime, Vlad Sr. was much leaner.

When they signed Vlad Jr., the Jays made a tactful reference to the fact that the kid with the thunder in his bat probably should watch his weight. They put him on a program. But no one is worried about his diligence on the diamond.

"He loves to work," Kim says. "He's got a very good work ethic. He has a smile on his face when he's doing it. He's a pleasure to watch."

Asked whether he has ever seen a 17-year-old with that much power, Kim pauses for a moment. "That's tough to say. He's definitely up there," he replies.

Even before he has played a professional game, Guerrero is ranked among the top prospects in the Toronto system. Baseball America lists him third, behind outfielder Anthony Alford and pitcher Conner Greene. MLB.com has him fifth, behind Alford, Greene and pitchers Sean Reid-Foley and Jon Harris.

Jays officials haven't decided ­(or won't say publicly) where Guerrero will start his pro career. It will be in a short-season league, where the schedule begins in June. That could leave him in Florida to play day games in the Gulf Coast League, or he could go to Bluefield or Vancouver.

Meanwhile, he will continue daily workouts in extended spring training until the short-season leagues start in mid-June. Doug Davis, the Jays' minor-league field coordinator, says they don't know yet where they'll send him, but they hope to give Guerrero experience playing under the lights in his debut season.

"We're comparing him status-wise to players like Jose Reyes and Andruw Jones," Davis says. "They were very young players who were extremely good and talented at that age. I think both those players started in the Appy League, so that might not be bad place to try. But we just want to see what he tells us as we watch him down here."

Like Guerrero, both Reyes and Jones were 17 when they turned pro. Both started in the Appalachian League. Toronto's Bluefield team is in that league, nestled in the mountains of West Virginia.

Guerrero was generally viewed as a corner outfielder when he signed, but the Jays have him playing third base. So far, they like what they see, despite skeptics in the scouting community who question his quickness and range.

"It was a unanimous decision down here to try him at third base," Davis says. "I originally saw him in the Dominican when he was working out down there. I don't think anybody was pushing for him to play any particular position. He sort of gravitated to right field. But just watching him, I think to us he just looked like a third baseman.

"I think it's working out really well. We always can move him to an outfield corner position or first base or somewhere else. But if he profiles at a premium position like third base, with the bat, the power potential, the arm strength, he's got the tools to play that position. Now it's whether he has the physical ability to play there. I thought that would be a good place for him to start, and so far he's done very well."

While Guerrero remains raw in terms of experience, he shows unusual sophistication in his approach at the plate, Davis says. And his power is off the charts.

"He hits balls as far as anybody that we have here right now (in minor-league camp), and he's still extremely young," Davis says. "But the other thing too is he seems to have the 'hit-ability' type gene as well. He doesn't strike out very much. He's similar to his dad, where he covers an awfully large strike zone. He creates his own strike zone sometimes, but he's able to handle that. And his eye for breaking pitches is pretty good for that age."

Vlad Sr. was a remarkably proficient bad-ball hitter. Vlad Jr. also has the free-swinging gene. But his lock, load and swing are fluid and consistent. No leg kick for him, just a slight weight shift to his back leg, and then, with a small forward step, he explodes from the hips.

"He stands out for his bat control, bat speed, hand strength and hand-eye coordination," according to Baseball America's new prospect handbook.

Davis concurs. He sees a lot of the father in the son.

"He does have the same similar style," he says. "His body type is a little bit different, but you can tell he's studied his father and how his father used to hit."

Guerrero generates undeniable excitement, both in those bombs he launches in Dunedin and in the imaginings of Blue Jays officials who see a genuine superstar in the making. But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves, says assistant general manager Andrew Tinnish.

"He's 17 years old. Obviously, we feel he's advanced for his age, but he still has a long way to go and a lot of things to work on in his game," Tinnish says. "He'll go to extended (spring training) and get a chance to work every day, not just on the offence, but on playing third base—get the reps there, the footwork, that sort of thing."

But there seems to be little doubt that Guerrero could move quickly through the ranks. He certainly seems to think so. Last July, shortly after he signed, the Jays brought him to the Rogers Centre for batting practice before a game. On that day, he predicted he would be in the big leagues in two years.

"Typically, a kid that age would stay in the Dominican Summer League or maybe get to the Gulf Coast League," Tinnish says. "I just think he's certainly more physically and mentally mature than that. But we'll see."

Meanwhile, anyone wandering across that softball field on a Dunedin morning should probably keep an eye on the sky.

All photos/video by John Lott