Guerrero Jr. becomes first Blue Jays player ever to win All-Star MVP

Jul 14 2021, 3:58 am

If the 2019 Home Run Derby was Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s unofficial coming out party, the 2021 All-Star Game was his superstar follow-up performance.

The 22-year-old stole the show at the 91st Midsummer Classic, leading the American League to a 5-2 victory and becoming the first Blue Jays player ever to win the All-Star Game MVP award. He hit a home run and collected a pair of RBI’s in his very first All-Star appearance.

Along with Blue Jays teammates Marcus Semien and Teoscar Hernandez, the Toronto trio drove in three of the American League’s five runs on the game.

Young Vladdy captured the attention of baseball fans worldwide with his towering home run in the top of the third inning. As he stares up at Shohei Ohtani in the home run chase, it was Guerrero who cleared the fence at Coors Field.

Guerrero hit the longest home run of his career at 468 feet, he’s the second youngest AL player to hit a home run in the All-Star Game since Johnny Bench in 1969, and Vladdy is now the second Blue Jay to go yard at the Midsummer Classic.

The Blue Jays first baseman started the game with a bullet off the bat that nearly took Max Scherzer’s head off, but the two hugged it out afterwards. Keep in mind that Guerrero hit a pair of homers off the three-time Cy Young winner.

Vladdy followed up that 110.2 mile per hour screamer with a home run launched at 111.1 miles per hour. With only three at bats, he hit the two of the three hardest balls of the entire game.

Guerrero joins another exclusive club occupied by only two other father-son pairs who hit home runs in the All-Star Game. The others are Bobby and Barry Bonds, and Ken Griffey Jr. and Sr.

Vladdy continues to set the world on fire, as he posted one of the best first halves in Toronto Blue Jays history. His 28 home runs through his first 87 games put the 22-year-old on pace to clear 50 home runs this season.

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