First baseman and designated hitter Vladimir Guerrero Ramos Jr. plays professional baseball and is of Canadian and Dominican descent. He is a baseball player with the Toronto Blue Jays at the moment. His father is Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero Sr. In April 2019, Vlad Jr. made his MLB debut. He is a right-handed batter and thrower and is regarded as one of the best active batters. Additionally, he goes by the names Vladdy and Vlado.
FULL NAME: Vladimir Guerrero Ramos Jr.
NATIONALITY: Canadian
ROLE: First baseman
Born: March 16, 1999
HEIGHT: 1.88 m
Instagram: vladdyjr27
Awards and Honours:
2018 – Minor League Player of the Year Award (Baseball America)
2018 – Minor League Baseball Player of the Year (USA Today)
2019 – MLB Player of the Week Award
2021 – MLB Player of the Week
2021 – The Silver Slugger Award (American League)
2021 – Tip O’Neill Award (Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame)
2021 – All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award
2021 – Hank Aaron Award
VLADIMIR GUERRERO JR. EARLY LIFE AND BACKGROUND
Vladimir Guerrero Ramos Jr. is the nephew of former Major League Baseball player Wilton Guerrero and the prodigal son of baseball legend Vladimir Guerrero. He is a citizen of Canada and was born in Montreal. Later, Riquelme Ramos left Montreal and moved to the Dominican Republic, where Vladimir Jr. spent the majority of his early years. He would spend the summers with Vlad Sr. Due to his hitting prowess, which evaluators frequently graded an 80 on the baseball scouting scale, Guerrero was among the best prospects. Scouts weren’t sure if he could play third base in the major leagues, but he has shown the ability to become a serviceable defender.
WHO DRAFTED VLADIMIR GUERRERO JR.?
At 16, he signed with Toronto on July 2, 2015, for $3.9 million. Guerrero debuted in the major league on June 23 with the Rookie Advanced Bluefield Blue Jays. Guerrero’s first home run, a two-run drive in a 4-2 defeat to the Bristol Pirates, came on June 24. He participated in 62 games for the Bluefield Blue Jays in 2016. At third base, Guerrero was ranked as the third-best prospect going into the 2017 minor league season. Guerrero began the Class-A Lansing Lugnuts’ 2017 campaign.
Following the All-Star Futures Game, Vlad Jr. would join the Advanced-A Dunedin Blue Jays, the Blue Jays announced on July 6. He played 119 games in the 2017 regular season, finishing with a batting average.323, 76 RBI, and 13 home runs. He participated in the Dominican Winter League’s Leones del Escogido during the off-season. Guerrero was regarded as the best prospect in the Blue Jays organization heading into the 2018 campaign. Guerrero will start the season with the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the team president of the Blue Jays, Mark Shapiro, stated.
Guerrero was taken out of a game on June 6 due to a leg injury. Guerrero’s transfer to the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons and his addition to the Arizona Fall League’s Surprise Saguaros roster were confirmed on July 28. It was unclear throughout 2019 spring training whether Guerrero would be on the Blue Jays Opening Day roster or if they would try to shorten his MLB service time by reassigning him to the minors.
VLADIMIR GUERRERO JR’s. MLB JOURNEY:
On April 24, 2019, the Blue Jays revealed that Guerrero would be promoted from Triple-A Buffalo. Before getting called up, Guerrero was regarded as the best professional baseball prospect. He was hitless in his first three at-bats against the Up to the bottom of the ninth inning, Oakland Athletics, when he hit a double and was replaced by a pinch runner. On May 11, Guerrero had his first game with multiple hits.
On May 14 against the Giants at Oracle Park, he blasted his first home run in the major league in the first inning, making him the youngest Blue Jay to do so at 20 years and 59 days. Guerrero became the youngest Blue Jay to receive the AL Player of the Week Award thanks to his four home runs during the subsequent six-game road trip. After three overtimes versus Joc Pederson on July 8, he surpassed the Home Run Derby’s single-round record for home runs with 40.
With 91 home runs, he broke the record for the most in a derby, but Pete Alonso defeated him in the championship match. That season, he hit the ball with any major league player’s highest exit velocity (118.9 mph). Guerrero participated in all 60 games of the condensed season in 2020 because the COVID-19 outbreak forced the start of the season into July.
Guerrero felt “quicker, stronger, and more resilient” as a result of starting the 2021 MLB season at a far lower weight than he had the previous two seasons. Guerrero’s first three-homer game of his career, which included a grand slam against the Washington Nationals, occurred on April 27, 2021. When asked to compete in the 2021 Home Run Derby on June 21, Guerrero responded that He would prefer to use the opportunity to reflect and be ready for the rest of the season.
On June 26, he achieved a milestone when he hit his 50th career home run in just his 258th career game, matching his father’s record. Vlad Jr. was selected as the American League’s starting first baseman in the ASG on July 1. He participated in the game, hitting the 200th home run in All-Star Game history and joining one of only three father-son teams to do it. He was also voted the game’s Most Valuable Player.
He is the first member of the Blue Jays and a Canadian to get the honor. At age 22, he is the youngest MVP of the All-Star Game. He came in second place behind Shohei Ohtani in the voting for the AL MVP in 2021. For the 2021 campaign, he was the Tip O’Neill Award winner. On March 22, 2022, Guerrero and the Toronto Blue Jays came to a $7.9 million agreement.