Hot Damn, Vlad Jr. Can Slide, Too

It was already well-known that Blue Jays rookie Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is the complete package at the plate. After a slightly rough start to his career, Baby Vlad has been mashing the ball— since the All-Star Break, he’s hitting .319 and slugging .530. And in the first inning on Thursday against the Rays, after fellow MLBer spawn Bo Bichette already hit a lead-off dinger on a 13-pitch at-bat, he upped his numbers with a hit to shallow left that missed the glove of a sliding Tommy Pham and allowed Vlad to hustle all the way to third.

What’s new about this particular triple is that, while Vladdy is decidedly not a plus baserunner (he has zero stolen bases), the beefy youth showed heretofore unseen agility and ingenuity in his fancy slide to avoid the tag at third. That’s a 250-pound man making the swim-move and roll onto his back look effortless.

Young Vlad is most certainly not too thick. Case closed.