Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is back on track for big league promotion

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is getting close to a return, so expect to see him in the big leagues in the pretty near future.

Prior to suffering a left knee injury on June 6, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was dominating Double-A  with a .407/.457/.667 slash-line (1.124 OPS), 11 home runs, 18 doubles and 55 RBI over 53 games. A promotion to the Toronto Blue Jays was inevitable, but the injury stalled that progress.

Guerrero seems set to return soon after missing a shade over a month now. Once he is ready to go, according to Rob Longley of the Toronto Sun, Guerrero will be assigned to Triple-A Buffalo.

Guerrero only has those 53 games and 235 plate appearances above High-A ball, at 19 years old. So getting him some run at Triple-A seems like the right move, even if Blue Jays fans will be clamoring for him to immediately be in the big leagues when he’s fully healthy.

The Blue Jays are 41-48 entering Tuesday’s action, which has them 20.5 games behind the Boston Red Sox in the AL East. The Wild Card standings aren’t any more promising, at 15 games back of the second spot, so a move to selling at the trade deadline is obvious.

As it pertains directly to Guerrero, and opening a spot for him, third baseman Josh Donaldson is a prime trade candidate in the final year of his contract. But the former American League MVP has been out too, since late-May with a calf injury.

There’s a chance Donaldson will return to action soon, and the Blue Jays are surely hoping he steps back on the field with his hitting shoes on to drive up his value on the trade market. For contending teams that fall by the wayside in pursuit of Manny Machado, Donaldson stands as a fallback option to fill a void at third base.

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Assuming no setbacks with his knee, and a representative showing at Triple-A, Guerrero Jr. will make his major league debut at some point this season.