While it often serves as a more of a pat on the head that stands in place of actually achieving something productive in a plate appearance, there is something to be said for Vladimir Guerrero Jr being a tough out these days.
Matched up against one of the very best pitchers in the game, who is paid in upwards of $30 million per season for his services and struck out more than 300 batters in last full season of action, Vlad Jr made a real nuisance of himself against Gerrit Cole on Monday night, just as he has all season long.
While the Jays/Yankees game didn’t feature a lot of signature bullet line drives find holes in souls, Vlad Jr did still manage to score himself a cheap little base hit while also engaging in a few epic battles of the wits against the Yankees ace and his pet catcher.
Just as he did when the two faced off on Opening Day, Vlad Jr showed incredible discipline as he took tough pitches just outside the zone. He fouled off some of Cole’s elite heat and seemed to be on right on the 2019 Cy Young’s best stuff, though his second at bat of the night ended with a ground out, as the sixth and final pitch was a 98 mph fastball that ate Guerrero up.
Of course, even the best or most locked-in hitters can get themselves into trouble, guessing a little too much and watching a fastball split the plate at 99 mph when they have something else in mind. The first pitch change up from Cole set their third (edit: it was the second at bat!) encounter of the night perfectly, as Vlad Jr spent the rest of the at bat looking for a slider that never came.
Guerrero came up against righty specialist and former teammate of his father’s (twice!) Darren O’Day. A convenient villain for Blue Jays fans that obscures just how effective he’s been for so long, O’Day gave Vladdy the business in a grown-up, dad bod, dead serious way.
There’s not much any hitter can do with those sliders other than hope to foul them off, which Guerrero failed to do and thus the nascent rally was snuffed.
A pretty much empty night at the plate that shouldn’t be overlooked when we think about the maturation of the Jays slugger. Going up against the very best in the game and a reliever purpose-built to get guys like Vlad out, Monday night offers a glimpse of what’s to come and what is, it should be clear, already here. A dangerous offensive weapon that opposing pitchers, even the very best, approach with extreme caution and must execute perfectly against if they hope to survive.