Vladimir Guerrero Jr. didn’t take long to make a major impact in his Triple-A return on Thursday, hitting a mammoth three-run homer to left field in the fifth inning against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Batting third in Buffalo’s lineup and serving as the designated hitter, Guerrero walked his first time up and had an RBI double and a stolen base in the third inning before his big blast in the fifth.
The 20-year-old, who is MLB Pipeline’s No. 1 overall prospect, opened the season with Class A Advanced Dunedin after suffering a left oblique strain during Spring Training. In four games with Dunedin, Guerrero went 4-for-15 with a double and a walk.
Triple-A Buffalo is expected to be Guerrero’s final stop before he makes his Major League debut. Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro said in late March that Guerrero would be on an "accelerated" path to the Majors once he returned to health.
Guerrero experienced Triple-A competition for the first time in 2018 and hit .336/.414/.564 with six homers in 30 games. That came after he recorded a .402/.449/.671 slash line with 14 homers over 61 games for Double-A New Hampshire.