FROM THIRD TO FIRST, BRILLIANT VLAD GUERRERO JR. DEFENCE THE SHOW-STOPPER IN BLUE JAYS EXTRA-INNINGS WIN

Sure it was another in the play-out-the-string games that frankly can’t end soon enough for the Blue Jays.

But some plays – good and bad – have more meaning than others as the team looks to determine just what’s left on the carcass of its roster as a critical offseason approaches.

So we take you to the Rogers Centre on Friday night and the top of the seventh inning with the Blue Jays leading the Cardinals 3-2 and starter Kevin Gausman down to his final pitches. With a St. Louis runner on third and the infield in to protect the lead, Vlad Guerrero Jr. was cat-like ready at his old position, prepared to pounce to protect the slim margin.

Wth a flash of the leather, Guerrero snagged a 100 mile per hour grounder coming to him off the bat of the Cards Paul Goldsmchidt. The baseball instincts kicked in and Guerrero dove to his right to the bag to tag Masyn Winn before firing the ball across the diamond as he fell, narrowly missing a double play as Spencer Horowitz couldn’t make the snag at first.

It was one of a series of sharp defensive plays by Guerrero that in part helped the Jays score a 4-3 walkoff win in 11 innings. The offensive hero was catcher Alejandro Kirk who belted a bases-loaded single to bring in the winning run.

That seventh inning defensive gem was a highlight moment at the hot corner, a flash of what the 25-year-old Jays slugger is capable of. And Guerrero’s presence there certainly carries some intrigue as he approaches 100 innings at third this season, the same position he broke into the major leagues at back in 2019 with mixed (we’re being polite here) results.

On Friday, anyway, the display was elite.

“He was on full display tonight,” manager John Schneider said afterwards. “Getting him the reps at third and it’s something he enjoys to do. The play with the infield in, was (an) unbelievable play.

“He’s got a great arm and I think he’s really confident in that. He’s got great hands. The game is pretty slow (defensively) for him right now.”

For now, reps at third are just a late-season experiment, heaped on to the fact-finding mission of the otherwise meaningless September baseball being conducted in these parts.

Once thought to be the position he’d call home for good, Guerrero lasted just a season at third. But times (and need) have changed, as has Guerrero’s maturation and prowess defensively.

“His overall game awareness is better,” Schneider said prior to Friday’s acrobatics. “He was 19 years-old and learning everything on the fly (when he previously played third) and so much attention went into his offence.”

No one is ready to anoint Guerrero the third baseman of the future, but in an off-season where so many holes need to be addressed, it can’t hurt to explore options. And that’s exactly what the team will do with Guerrero’s defensive assignments as often as it makes sense over the final two weeks of 2024.

As comfortable as Guerrero has been at first – winning a Gold Glove there in 2022 – third has always been his preferred perch. But after logging 96 games and 824 innings at the position in his rookie 2019 season, he lost the job because of fitness concerns that dulled his performance.

Just 19 at the time, Guerrero switched spots, seemingly for good playing just four innings at third over the next four seasons. But with no natural long-term third baseman on the roster, why not explore the possibilities?

“There are a few things that need to be cleaned up of course, but there’s no doubt in my mind that if he ever had to play third base every day that he would be an above average defender at the position,” Jays third base coach Carlos Febles said on Friday. “This is a guy who has good hands and good instincts. It’s a matter of getting the right repetitions and absolutely he can definitely be a solid third baseman at this level.”

And then there’s the arm. When he was third base coach with the Red Sox, Febles remembers feeling the same way about the younger Guerrero, who was just getting his feet wet in the big leagues.

“I watched a little bit and I just saw the arm,” Febles said of Guerrero, who also made two more stellar plays at first in each of the ninth and 10th innings to keep the game tied. “I knew he had good hands and there were little things he needed to work on, but a guy who has an arm like that, that helps at third. You can get away with staying back on balls and not rush. He can trust his instincts and trust his arm.”

As he works with Guerrero now – as Febles did during a lengthy session prior to Friday’s game – he sees a much more athletic version than the rookie who committed 17 errors.

“He’s in better shape and that helps him to move laterally,” Febles said. “For him to play third base, has has to keep himself in really good shape because you have to move a little more over there than at first.

“But I know he likes it. Every time he plays (at third) he enjoys it.”

GAME ON

For added entertainment value, Guerrero showed his stuff aft first on Friday as well, as Schneider shored up the lineup defensively for the ninth. With a runner on second and two out, Guerrero dove sharply to his right in the middle of the diamond to snag a sharply hit Nolan Arenado grounder to end the inning and keep the score tied … Same deal in the 10th when Guerrero made another deft play between first and second to deny Luken Baker a single to end the inning … Those plays helped set up the winning heroics for Kirk. After Guerrero was walked, Leo Jimenez laid down a perfect bunt single to load the bases with nobody out. The Jays catcher launched a fly ball to left field beyond the Cards outfielders to cash in the winner … The win, which improved the Jays record to 70-78, was their fifth walkoff of the season … The Kirk walkoff was the first of his career

2024-09-14T13:23:39Z dg43tfdfdgfd