TORONTO -- One thousand games ago, a baby-faced Vladimir Guerrero Jr. walked into Rogers Centre for his first Major League game wearing his father’s uniform.
So much has happened since then, even if it doesn’t feel like 1,000 games have passed. That’s such a big number for a player like Guerrero, who at 27 still plays with the same joy Blue Jays fans fell in love with when he was a teenager.
This is a testament to Guerrero’s talent -- only the good ones get to stick around -- but also his consistency. Guerrero has played in at least 156 games in each of the past five seasons, often battling through the bumps and bruises of a long season to be in the lineup for almost every single game.
“When you can just write a guy in every night? Damn, it’s nice,” manager John Schneider said. “I don’t think the public appreciates how hard it is when you’re travelling and you have to do a lot of different [stuff] to keep yourself ready. That’s my biggest thing for a player, being available every day. I love that.”
It’s no longer a matter of “if” Guerrero can knock down all of Carlos Delgado’s records, but when. This franchise’s records are jammed full of the same names, typically topped with some combination of Delgado, José Bautista, Tony Fernández and Vernon Wells.
Over his next 1,000 games, Guerrero should re-write the whole book.
With his 14-year, $500 million deal positioning him as this organization’s first lifelong star, let’s take a look at how close Guerrero already is to doing just that.
Games played:
- Tony Fernández – 1,450
- Carlos Delgado – 1,423
- Vernon Wells – 1,393
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – 1,000
Today’s game actually broke a tie with Edwin Encarnación (999), and by the end of the 2028 season, a healthy Guerrero could already be into the top three here. He’s well on track to knock off Fernández while he’s still just 30 years old, and by the time Guerrero finishes his career, we could be talking about 2,500-plus games.
Hits:
- Tony Fernández – 1,583
- Vernon Wells – 1,529
- Carlos Delgado – 1,413
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – 1,107
These have never come hard to Guerrero, and this is another club record he could hold at some point during his age-30 season or even earlier. He’ll need career-long health and to play out the full length of this deal before we can talk about a run at 3,000 hits, but there’s a real chance.
Home runs:
- Carlos Delgado – 336
- José Bautista – 288
- Edwin Encarnación – 239
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – 185
This will take Vladdy longer than the hits record. Delgado hung around 40 homers a season, particularly during his incredible peak from 1998-’03 in Toronto. If Vladdy settles into the 30-homer range on average, let’s meet back here in April 2030, for an update.
Walks:
- Carlos Delgado – 827
- José Bautista – 803
- Lloyd Moseby – 547
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – 443
Good luck touching John Olerud’s career .395 on-base percentage with the Blue Jays, but walks? This shouldn’t be a problem with another five to six seasons.
Guerrero is also tied for fifth in club history with 42 intentional walks, which could be a bigger challenge to catch Delgado (who had 128).
WAR for position players (FanGraphs)
- José Bautista – 36.2
- Tony Fernández – 35.1
- Carlos Delgado – 34.7
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – 21.4
Another that feels only like a matter of time, this will depend on how many peak seasons Guerrero has like 2021 (6.3 WAR) or ‘24 (5.3).
Guerrero has further to go, though, to catch Dave Stieb (43.6 WAR) for the all-time franchise lead. If Guerrero can average 4.0 WAR per season, which has been his average since 2021, then he could knock off Bautista by the end of the 2029 season and Stieb somewhere around 2031. That’s miles down the road, but Guerrero’s sticking around for a while.
EXTRAS:
- Vladdy has been hit by a pitch 37 times in his career. It’s a steep and painful hill to catch Delgado in this one (122), but perhaps Reed Johnson (80) is within reach for second all-time. Somehow, Johnson racked up his 80 in just five seasons with the Blue Jays, peaking at 21 in a single season.
- Only Bautista (6), Roy Halladay (6) and Stieb (7) have more All-Star appearances than Guerrero (5), who shouldn’t take long to rack up a few more.