DUNEDIN, Fla. — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. missed nearly the last two weeks of Toronto Blue Jays spring training games due to right knee inflammation. It was nothing too serious — no reason to panic. But look at the calendar. It’s not yet St Patrick’s Day. There’s still plenty of runway until games begin to count. This time of year, it makes sense to take every precaution. Why push anything?
Anyway, here’s Guerrero absolutely gunning it to beat out a groundball during his first in-game plate appearance since the injury:
That’s a home-to-first time of 4.79 seconds, only two-tenths of a second off Guerrero’s 2022 season average. His 28.2 foot-per-second sprint speed was the fastest he’s recorded in a tracked game this spring and would have ranked within his 50 quickest sprints up the first base line last season.
If there was any concern about the knee issue limiting his mobility, Guerrero did everything he could to immediately alleviate it. But what about his ability to rotate and generate power with his lower half at the plate? Well, here’s what Guerrero did in his next plate appearance:
That’s a 113.6-m.p.h. missile — Guerrero’s hardest-hit tracked ball so far in Blue Jays camp and the second-hardest off a Toronto bat this spring — that went from barrel to outfield grass in under three seconds. It was hit so hard that Pittsburgh Pirates left fielder Bryan Reynolds had only taken a step-and-a-half in before he realized the ball was sailing over his head.
“Yeah, he was going,” said Blue Jays manager John Schneider. “I think he wants to test himself a little bit. He’s gone through all the stages to get back. So, I think he wanted to give it a realistic go.”
Guerrero even added a nine-pitch plate appearance in his third trip of the day for good measure, fouling off three two-strike offerings before flying out 323 feet to right-centre field. There was no holding anything back. No easing his way in. Guerrero went full-send as soon as he had the opportunity.
That says one thing about the kind of competitor he is. Another about how strong his knee’s feeling after giving it time to heal. And perhaps one more about a desire to prove his readiness should there be an opportunity this weekend to join his countrymen representing the Dominican Republic at the World Baseball Classic.
“Everything went well. I feel good with my knee. I’m glad I had some action — that I could run the bases. That I could feel how it really feels,” Guerrero said through club interpreter Hector Lebron. “When you come off of an injury like that, of course, you want to practice that in the game. You want to feel how it really is — if it feels really good in a game. It’s not the same when you’re practicing running the bases. I’m very happy that happened — that I could prove that my knee felt good.”
Guerrero originally experienced his knee discomfort while running the bases in a game on March 3, and although an MRI didn’t reveal any structural concerns, the Blue Jays have approached the situation with understandable caution. That’s how Guerrero ended up sidelined for as long as he did with an issue that likely wouldn’t have sent him to the injured list during the regular season.
Ultimately, Guerrero was out of games for 11 days. But he remained very active at Toronto’s player development complex throughout, taking live batting practice and completing drill work at first base. He ran the bases at full intensity over the weekend and hit against Adam Cimber on Tuesday. His return-to-play progression was a deliberate one.
The Blue Jays discussed easing Guerrero back into action with some games as a designated hitter but were confident enough in the readiness he’d demonstrated in prior days to test him immediately with five innings at first base.
“I feel pretty good. Almost 100 per cent,” Guerrero said. “I lost a week, week-and-a-half. I thought it was going to slow me down a little bit. But, actually, with the at-bats today, I felt pretty good. So, I’m almost there.”
The WBC uncertainty is all that remains after Guerrero answered every other question anyone could have had on Wednesday. Guerrero withdrew from the first round of the tournament after suffering the knee injury, but notably left open the possibility of participating in the knockout stages — health willing.
Of course, the Dominican team must get there first, with a winner-moves-on clash with Puerto Rico on tap Wednesday at 7:00 pm ET. But should the Dominicans prevail, there is at least interest on Guerrero’s part in joining the team for the quarterfinals in Miami this weekend.
It’s fair to assume the interest level from a Blue Jays perspective is somewhat less robust. You don’t need a ZIPS projection — which forecasts Guerrero leading the Blue Jays in most offensive categories this year, including a monstrous 148 wRC+ — to understand how immensely important the soon-to-be 24-year-old’s contributions are to Toronto’s season.
With a bullet already dodged earlier this spring, and Guerrero still building up to playing full games, the idea of rapidly increasing stress and intensity in a do-or-die quarterfinal would understandably cause some unease within Toronto’s front office and coaching staff.
Sure, Guerrero could also get injured in Grapefruit League play. That’s how he got injured in the first place. But the pressure to push himself and test physical limits will be greater in a WBC environment, which increases the possibility of an unfortunate outcome. Modern MLB clubs, which track, assess, and manage workloads to an extremely high degree in spring training, understandably want to keep as many variables within their control as possible.
Speaking Wednesday morning, Schneider said Guerrero had yet to approach him about the possibility of joining the Dominican Republic and that the current priority for all involved is getting the first baseman through his return to play progression.
“We all understand his passion for the country,” Schneider said Wednesday morning. “I think everyone’s focus right now is just on him being healthy and playing for the Jays.”
And did Guerrero’s performance Wednesday afternoon give Schneider any more confidence that Guerrero could be ready to jump straight from spring training ball to WBC play by the weekend?
“I don’t know. We’ll see,” Schneider said after Wednesday’s game. “We’ll see how he is tonight and see how he is [Thursday] and go from there. But I’m happy that he looked good today — for him and for us.”
For his part, Guerrero’s saying all the right things. That the health of his knee and the success of the Blue Jays are his priorities. After Wednesday’s performance, Guerrero echoed Schneider’s tact.
“I’m going to take this day-by-day. It all depends how I feel. Right now, I feel great. But I don’t know how I’m going to feel [Thursday,]” Guerrero said. “First thing’s first — my knee. I want to make sure that everything is perfect with my knee. We’ll see how it feels [Thursday] and then we’ll see what happens.”
Like he said, we’ll see. What we know Wednesday is Guerrero can sprint, he can barrel a baseball, and he can work a long, competitive plate appearance. He had no reason to push anything during his first game action in nearly two weeks. But then Guerrero stepped on the field — and found he also had no reason not to.
