Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s stint in the Arizona Fall League ended early Tuesday, but not before he had cemented his status as baseball’s top prospect with another impressive offensive performance.
Guerrero Jr. left the Surprise Saguaros for a family matter, as first reported by William Boor of MLB.com. The 19-year-old third base prospect hit .351/.409/.442 with more walks (eight) than strikeouts (six) in 19 games facing other highly-regarded prospects from around baseball.
In 95 games in the upper-minors this season, Guerrero Jr. hit .381/.437/.636 with 20 home runs. He missed time mid-season with a knee injury, one reason that the Blue Jays assigned him to the AFL.
The recently-released Steamer projections at FanGraphs forecast a .306/.368/.511 batting line for Guerrero Jr. in 2019 even though he has yet to appear at the MLB level. Despite his offensive ability, the Blue Jays are expected to keep Guerrero Jr. at triple-A for the first few weeks of the coming season, a move that would assure the club of seven years of control rather than six, even if it draws criticism from the MLBPA.
The Saguaros have three games remaining on the schedule.
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