TORONTO -- There’s a storm coming. The clouds haven’t darkened yet and the thunder is still far in the distance, but it’s been promised so long and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. finally feels it in the air now. He’s sure of it.
Standing by his locker Sunday evening after the Blue Jays’ 6-4 win, Guerrero sounded like a man who wanted the next night’s game to start in an hour. He’s 64 games into a season in which he’s looked too similar to everyone else on the field, but he’s not.
In no world should Guerrero own a .752 OPS waking up on the morning of June 8. In no world should 182 players have more home runs than Guerrero, who’s stuck on three. We’re still in the shadow of the Blue Jays’ run to Game 7 of the World Series, a breathtaking month of baseball which announced Guerrero as this country’s biggest star. People aren’t waiting on a miracle, because they’ve seen what true greatness looks like already. They’re just waiting on an encore.
“I always tell the guys, don’t worry about me,” Guerrero said. “I’m going to be good. When I get hot, I’ll get hot. I don’t go up there to miss.”
There’s such confidence in Guerrero’s voice right now, completely void of worry. Of course, a $500 million contract is going to bring some ease to one’s life, but the way Guerrero talks about this cold stretch sounds different than his younger selves.
He’s more animated now, more expressive and in ways more convincing. A younger Guerrero was, at times, more defensive, understandably wanting to stick to the routines and habits that had made him the No. 1 prospect in the sport, the teenage hitter who dragged out that dangerous word, “generational.”
Speaking Sunday night, though, Guerrero sounded energized. He sounded like someone who believed he’d already found the answers and was just waiting to show everyone else.
“I feel way better. I feel way better,” Guerrero said. “I’ve been pulling the ball more in the air than I was two or three weeks ago. I just listened to my hitting coaches. I’m listening to whatever they tell me to create a plan to go to home plate.”
Where this team goes, that’s up to Guerrero to decide. Now 32-34, it feels like this season is about to reset with a wave of healthy players coming back. The ugly part should be over now, opening the door for the Blue Jays to decide what this season will really look like, but the face of the franchise is the only man with the power to change everything with one swing.
At the other end of the clubhouse, Ernie Clement said that these Blue Jays are a very good team that could be a great team. Then, he took it one step further.
“I think this team has a chance to be better than last year,” Clement said.
Better than last year? That’s a World Series. It feels far away, but if Guerrero catches fire in the middle of the Blue Jays’ lineup, we can finally start to entertain some new ideas about this ballclub, one small step at a time.
Some of this, Guerrero believes, is just a matter of patience.
“I’ve been feeling good and I’ve been hitting the ball hard,” Guerrero said. “There’s nothing I can do, I just try to go out there and put a good swing on the ball. I’ve been hitting the ball hard lately, but this is baseball. I’m going to keep working hard and keep doing this. Things are going to go my way. At one point, the baseball is going to be good to me. Right now, I’m hitting the ball hard, just out. I know that’s not going to be all year.”
This hasn’t been all blatantly bad luck, though. It’s still clear to anyone watching at home that Guerrero’s at-bats don’t look like they did a year ago. That’s a high bar, but greatness is expected of great players. Guerrero is exactly that, even if 64 games without his top-end production has been far too long of a wait.
Vladdy keeps saying that it will just take one swing. Not a line-drive single, not a double into the corner, not even a wall-scraper for a solo home run. Guerrero wants to hit another no-doubter. He wants to stand and watch with everyone else, and when that ball comes crashing down into the bleachers, then he’ll enjoy a long trot around the bases.
It’s been too long. It’s been far too infrequent. He’s so certain, though, that the drought is about to end. He’s so certain that the storm is coming.