By Canadian Press

Rising Blue Jays star Guerrero Jr. doing things teammates have never seen

Jul 29, 2018 | 5:15 AM

Jordan Romano and his New Hampshire Fisher Cats teammates were huddled in their home dugout months ago wondering how far Vladimir Guerrero Jr. could hit a baseball.

They got their answer in a May 7 game when Guerrero launched a home run deep to left field, clanging the ball off the Hilton Garden Inn beyond the outfield fence for his first multi-homer game of his double-A career.

“His first at bat he had laced (a homer) to centre field and we were talking like: ‘if he hits it as hard as he hits that but gets a little more air out of it, he’s going to hit the hotel,’” Romano said in a phone interview with The Canadian Press. “And sure enough, two at-bats later he hits a home run off the hotel.

“It was insane. We’d never seen that in a game before.

“Every time he gets up to the plate we expect something crazy to happen and more often than not it does,” Romano added. “He hits homers off the hotel, he smokes the ball every time he hits it. Every at bat you make sure to watch because you never know what he’s going to do next.”

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Romano, a right-handed pitcher from Markham, Ont., and a 10th-round pick of the Blue Jays in 2014, had a front row seat to the Vlad Jr. show at double-A this season.

He’ll have to keep tabs on the Blue Jays No. 1 prospect from afar when Guerrero reports to Triple-A Buffalo on Tuesday in a promotion that comes as a surprise to no one.

The 19-year-old has torn through double-A, even after missing a month of the season with a knee injury, batting .403 with a .449 on-base percentage and .671 slugging percentage through 61 games. 

The son of Hall of Famer and former Montreal Expos star Vladimir Guerrero — Vlad Jr. was in Cooperstown, N.Y., this weekend for his father’s induction ceremony before reporting to Buffalo — has 14 homers, 19 doubles and 60 runs batted in.

But for all the success Guerrero has shown at the plate, Romano said he’s been more intrigued by the youngster’s attitude.

“Of course what he does on the baseball field, what he’s done to the pitchers in this league, I’ve never seen it done before and there’s nothing like it. But the thing that impresses me most about him is he’s 19, he has a huge spotlight on him, and just the way that he handles it so well,” Romano said.

“You kinda forget how young he is. He’s very mature. He’s a really good teammate which is something you don’t expect from a 19-year-old kid, but he supports all his guys, it’s big.”

Guerrero was one of a handful of top young prospects on a double-A team that also featured Bo Bichette and Cavan Biggio.

Romano called the Fisher Cats “definitely the most talented team” he’s ever been a part of, and the one that’s garnered the most media coverage with large outlets like MLB Network, Sports Illustrated and ESPN all showing up to interview New Hampshire’s top stars. 

And while Guerrero and others have been enjoying double-A success, Romano is having a stellar year of his own in his third full season as a starter. 

The 25-year-old, who added a change-up to his arsenal last year, is 10-4 and has a 3.40 earned-run average with 101 strikeouts and just 36 walks over 19 starts (111 1/3 innings) at New Hampshire. He was also just named the Eastern League’s Pitcher of the Week for July 16-22. 

“I think the key for me has really been staying aggressive,” Romano said. “Attacking hitters, throwing a lot of strikes, not giving away free passes. 

“The change-up didn’t really click last year. I tried a couple different grips, this and that, but never really had a feel for the pitch. This year it’s been effective for me, it’s a really good weapon.”

Romano, who also had a start in triple-A this season, counts himself lucky to have never faced Guerrero, not even in an intrasquad game at spring training.

“I don’t know if that’s by design but I’m thankful for that,” he said with a laugh.

“He’s a guy who’s just always going to hit,” he added. “I think he’s going to do what he did in this league (in triple-A) too. He’s going to have no trouble wherever he goes.”

Melissa Couto, The Canadian Press