Time to fire up the search light and find Vlad Guerrero Jr

What is taking so long for the Blue Jays to call up Vlad Guerrero Jr? The polarizing minor league star has dominated at three levels, all except the MLB in 2018.

One of the more frustrating things in sports is when a struggling team refuses to call up and play youth. There isn’t a more perfect example in sports right now than Vlad Guerrero Jr, who has put up insane numbers in the minors.

The Blue Jays are in fourth place and are 12 games under .500 and for some reason are refusing to give Guerrero an opportunity. Josh Donaldson and Yangervis Solarte, the Blue Jays third basemen this year have been ineffective.

Donaldson, playing in only 36 games hit .234 with a .757 OPS when on the field. At age 32 and with an expiring contract he isn’t part of the future. The same can be said about 30-year-old Solarte.

Solarte is rocking a .684 OPS while only hitting .233 while sporting a negative WAR. There is simply no logical reason for these two to be blocking someone with so much promise.

Guerrero Jr, on the other hand, has dominated all year long. He’s played most of the year in AA where he hit .402/.449/.671 with 14 home runs and a 1.120 OPS. It’s not like he put these numbers up in a small sample size either, he played 61 games with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.

Finally, at the end of July, he was promoted to AAA. He hasn’t slowed down either. In 12 games Vlad Jr is slashing .395/.489/.763 with an OPS of 1.253 four home runs and seven runs batted in.

If you combine his numbers for the four different teams he’s played for this year he’s hitting .400/.454/.681 with a 1.13 OPS 18 home runs and 69 rbi. The 19-year-old seems ready for the bigs.

Heading into the season he was the third-ranked prospect but he’s shot up to the number one prospect in baseball. The longer Toronto waits to call him up the longer they can control him. It’s a lame excuse and only prolongs his major league development so, in the long run, is it really worth it?