Vlad Jr. leaves Fisher Cats game with injury

The Blue Jays have lost five in row, 14 of the last 18, are double digits out of the division and wild card a few hours in June, and have had countless players hurt and/or underperforming. So it can’t really get much worse, surely? And at least there’s plenty of good stuff happening in the minors, right?

The Baseball Gods scoff at the challenge.

The New Hampshire Fisher Cats had a doubleheader today (and tomorrow, after yesterday’s doubleheader was wiped out), and after dropping game 1 on an ugly walkoff they took a 3-0 lead to the 7th and final scheduled inning of game 2 with the heart of the order in Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Cavan Biggio due up.

After Bichette struck out, Vlad took a fastball and breaking ball to fall into an 0-2 hole before tapping the next pitch to shortstop. He beat the the throw for an infield single, but came up limping and in some pain, and manager John Schneider had to help him off the field. Andrew Guillotte replaced him as the pinch runner and at DH (Vlad was in the field for the first game).

Hopefully, it’s just a minor tweak for the Eastern League batting leader and the top prospect in all of baseball, but nonetheless not what anyone wants to see. Though perhaps convenient if you’re looking for reasons to keep him down until late April 2019.

Why can’t we have nice things?