Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr. named top minor league hitter of 2018

Mark Suleymanov

Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr. named top minor league hitter of 2018 image

A standout year in the minors has earned baseball's top prospect Vladimir Guerrero Jr. his latest honor.

The Blue Jays' third base prospect was named the minor league hitter of the year by MLB Pipeline. The 19-year-old dominated minor league baseball, leading all hitters in batting average (.381), slugging (.636), OPS (1.073) and did not go consecutive games without a hit all season. Despite missing a month of action with a strained patellar tendon in his left knee, Guerrero set career-highs with 20 home runs and 78 RBI.

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"I was happy with everything that transpired throughout the season," Guerrero said to MLB.com. "I go out there on a daily basis and work hard. I fully understand that I can only control what I do on the field, but have no control over what happens off the field."

There was a lot of speculation that Guerrero's historic season in the minors would earn him a call-up to the majors in September. However, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins confirmed earlier this week that the son of Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero would not be called up this month.

"It has nothing to do with business," Blue Jays team president Mark Shapiro said on MLB Network Radio. "It has nothing to do with anything other than we think the best thing for him developmentally is to go play in Arizona and continue to develop."

Shapiro spent two decades in the Cleveland Indians front office and compared the situation with Guerrero to Manny Ramirez. The slugging outfielder was a capable hitter early in his career, but Shapiro said his accelerated track to majors resulted in him not developing his defense and baserunning. 

When Guerrero is deemed ready for the majors, Toronto wants him to be a capable all-around player and not just a reliable hitter.

"We're trying to do everything we humanly can developmentally with an accelerated timeframe this his defense, preparation, his routine and his understanding of his impact as a leader and a teammate," Shapiro said. "All the different things that go into it, that they're taken advantage of and that we can build as strong a foundation as possible when he gets here. We're not worried about him as a hitter, that's certainly something he does extremely well and could do proficiently up here now."

The Blue Jays traded former American League Most Valuable Player Josh Donaldson last week, opening up the hot corner at the big-league level. With the focus on the future, Shapiro noted that while Guerrero did not receive a call-up this month, he can easily take over third base next spring.

"It would not preclude him from making the team out of Spring Training next year," Shapiro said. "We think he's got a chance to be an impact player."

Mark Suleymanov