It was Shohei Ohtani’s week but it ended up being Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s night. Named the All Star Game MVP, hitting a tape measure home run and driving in another run with a ground out, Vlad Jr was the obvious choice for the game’s most valuable player.
He’s also as good a hitter as we’re likely to ever see.
One home run doesn’t cement his status as an all-time great, of course. Neither does one half of one season of baseball. But like the fêted Ohtani, Vlad Jr has a quality that makes other players want to talk about him and be around him. It’s the star quality that makes you want to believe, that turns one home run in an exhibition game into a key piece of lore in the growing legend that is Vlad Jr Inc.
Every home run he hits, no matter the ballpark, sounds the same. They all sound like thousands of people getting their money’s worth. The delighted cry of someone who got what they wished for, even if it put the home side in a tough spot.
Guerrero put his wide assortment of skills on display during the all star game in Denver. He hit a ball nearly to the damn moon. He nearly killed one of the best pitchers of his (or any) generation with a line drive, the hardest hit ball of the night.
He made a few nice plays at first base, chopped it up with his scene partner Teoscar Hernández with a bit that even made sociopath and known piece of shit Aroldis Chapman laugh. He demonstrated how the game comes to him and that he never shies from The Moment. He knows it’s a game that he’s out there playing, whether the ball is in live or otherwise.
No Blue Jays player had ever won the All Star Game MVP. No player as young as Vlad Jr ever took home the honour. Now another Guerrero name resides in the exhibition game record book, and in multiple spots. Every day it feels more likely that his name will appear with more and more records beside it.
It was nice to see a well played and paced all star game end briskly1. It was nice to see Ohtani get to be baseball’s main character for a few days, a title he certainly earned this season with his otherworldly play. It was nice to see the American League’s starting pitcher throw one perfect inning and then escape with his mystique intact
And it was nice to see, even if it doesn’t mean anything, Vlad Jr live up to the hype for one day, to show the fans of other teams that it isn’t just them Guerrero picks on, he’s like this all the time. No matter how many good (all star, even!) pitchers you throw his way, he’s going to get one of them. At least. Per night. Every night. Because he’s not just good, he’s better.
Everything is relative