TORONTO – Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was determined not to report to another Blue Jays spring camp with more weight than he wanted.
Ashamed and regretted after getting out of shape for summer camp in 2020, the Dominican slugger worked aggressively on his physical fitness during the off-season, saying he’d lost 42 pounds since July last year.
“I got out of shape in spring camp for a few years,” Guerrero said through a translator at the Blue Jays camp in Dunedin, Florida. “One day, at my home in the Dominican Republic, I sat down and thought about all this. I then decided that I would be ready, that I would prepare, that I would work very hard for this year.
“I did it because my main focus is to be ready and help the team win,” he added.
A leaner Warrior said he feels stronger, faster, and determined.
“I worked really hard on my legs because I really wanted to trust them. It used to not reach the tracks. Sometimes I couldn’t wait on the plate for the ball to arrive, ”said the Dominican player. “I feel faster in all aspects. I feel great running the bases. I used to feel very tired after taking rolas. Now I can catch 50, 60 grooves and feel good. “
Manager Charlie Montoyo praised Guerrero for his transformation.
‘He has achieved his goals. He had a great low season. All his work has paid off. It looks really good, ”said the manager.
Guerrero, who turns 22 in March, hit .272 with 15 home runs and 69 RBI’s as a rookie in 2019, but hit his last homerun on August 16 and looked tired for the rest of the season losing games to a right knee ailment .
Guerrero lost weight for spring camp in 2020, but regained it after the COVID-19 pandemic put baseball on hiatus for several months. Last November, the Dominican told a newspaper in his country that he apologized to his Blue Jays teammates after reporting that he was overweight during summer camp when the majors resumed their campaign.
“In recent years they knew he was getting out of shape. I did not prepare well and I felt at the time that my colleagues needed my apologies, ”said Guerrero.
After moving from third to first base in 2020, Guerrero hit .262 with nine homers and 33 RBI’s while participating in all 60 games of the pandemic-shortened season.
During his winter training in the Dominican Republic and at the Toronto complex in Florida, Guerrero said his teammates like Bo Bichette, Cavan Baggio and Teoscar Hernández motivated him, as well as new hires in free agency including outfielder George Springer and infielder Marcus Semien.
Guerrero has expressed his desire to improve defensively at third base, where he committed 17 errors (the team’s highest total) in 96 games in 2019. He said the Blue Jays had instructed him to expect to finish first and foremost in 2021. would be third.
Montoyo noted that he, along with general manager Ross Atkins, spoke to Guerrero and was told to focus on his efforts to improve at first base.
“My first baseman is Vlad Guerrero and my third is Biggio, but if we are confronted with a powerful left-handed or something and I want to give Biggio a day off, Vladdy can go to third,” said the pilot.
“Our main message was, ‘Become a Gold Glove first baseman and then we’ll take you to third and see what happens,” Montoyo concluded.