:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69538216/1325598916.0.jpg)
I really don’t have to say anything about Vlad. He has been excellent. And he looks like he’s having fun. I want to think that if I could get paid for playing a kids' game, I’d look like I was having fun too.
He’s played in all 80 of our games. So I thought maybe he could use a day off, and then he homered yesterday.
Eighty games in, and he has an fWAR of 4.7, bWAR at 4.3. If he equals that in the second half, he’ll have the highest one season bWAR in Jays’ history, beating out Jose Bautista’s 8.3 in 2011
I’d love to go through Twitter and make fun of the people who told me the Jays would trade Vlad because he was a bust, but everyone is allowed to be wrong. Even spectacularly wrong.
Compared to last year, he’s hitting fewer ground balls (46.3%, from 54.6). In addition, 35.1% of his fly balls are leaving the park (fourth in baseball). His BABIP is .348.
On the defensive side, he looks good at first. FanGraphs has him at a 1.5 UZR/150, after a -13.8 last year. I don’t put much faith in UZR for first basemen, but he has improved more than I would have thought possible in one year. I think the position suits him. He’s in on every play—I kind of like the idea that the first baseman is a leader on the team.
Even his baserunning has looked better.
He is certainly enthusiastic.
Oh, let's just go to the poll.
Poll
For the first half, I’d give Vladimir Guerrero Jr. an
This poll is closed
-
97%
A
(1017 votes) -
1%
B+
(16 votes) -
0%
B
(3 votes) -
0%
B-
(0 votes) -
0%
C+
(1 vote) -
0%
C
(2 votes) -
0%
C-
(0 votes) -
0%
D+
(1 vote) -
0%
D
(0 votes) -
0%
D-
(2 votes) -
0%
F
(5 votes)
And just for my curiosity, let's do one just on his defense.
Poll
For his defense at first I’d grade Vlad anA
This poll is closed
-
32%
A
(273 votes) -
41%
B+
(350 votes) -
20%
B
(173 votes) -
3%
B-
(29 votes) -
1%
C+
(14 votes) -
0%
C
(4 votes) -
0%
C-
(1 vote) -
0%
D+
(2 votes) -
0%
D
(1 vote) -
0%
D-
(0 votes) -
0%
F
(4 votes)