Vladdy Jr. Is In A League Of His Own
(AP Photo/Mike Carlson via forbes)
In his third year in the Majors, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has a legitimate shot of earning the prestigious Triple Crown award.
Guerrero Jr. was one of the highest rated prospects coming out of the minor leagues in 2018. Scouts and teams always believe that their highly rated prospect is the next Mike Trout or Derek Jeter, so it’s always a good idea to take the ranking system with a grain of salt. However, that mindset did not apply to Vladdy Jr. considering he’s the son of 2018 Hall of Fame inductee Vladimir Guerrero.
Vladdy Jr. was so highly coveted as a prospect that scouts and experts were saying he could turn out to be better than his Hall-of-Fame father, and so far he’s proving them right. Although he didn’t win the Rookie of the Year in 2019, which went to Yordan Alaverez, it’s looking like Vladdy Jr. is in serious contention for the MVP this year.
According to Oddsshark.com, Vladdy Jr. is the 2nd favorite player to win the MVP with +350 odds. Shohei Otani is currently leading the way at +110 odds.
It’s possible that Vladdy can pull off one of baseball’s most difficult accolades this year -- winning the Triple Crown. The win the Major League Triple Crown, you have to lead your respective league in Home Runs, Runs Batted In, and overall batting average.
Baseball has been played for over 150 seasons, and this extremely exclusive award has only been claimed 12 times. That’s right, 12/150. Only a few players and legends have won this award, such as Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams (a two time winner) and Miguel Cabrera.
Being able to hit for power is hard enough, but maintaining the highest batting average in the league is even more difficult. Vladdy Jr. has shown this season that he’s mastered the art of hitting.
Just to recap, Vlad would have to lead the American League in Home Runs, RBI’s, and Batting Average to pull this off.
As of June 10th, Vlad has played 59 games and currently leads the American League in Home Runs (18) and RBIs (48. However, he’s currently in second place in batting average with a .330 only to be bested by Yuli Gurriel’s average of .335.
The only two scenarios where I don’t see Vlad winning the Triple Crown is if he gets into a massive slump in the middle of the season or the soon-to-come media pressure gets to him. The media can be relentless when it sees a potential historical event happening. In 1961, Roger Maris was trying to break the single season home run record of 60, set by Babe Ruth. You would think that people would be supportive of him breaking the Babe’s record, but sadly you’d be wrong. As he was nearing the record, the stress got so bad for Maris that clumps of his hair were falling out at the young age of 26.
Before I go I just want to reiterate that Vladdy Jr. is the definition of a unit. I mean, just look at him; the kid has a gut, but man can he swing that bat.