DENVER – Since his birth in 1999, the year of his father’s first All-Star selection, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has had to stand out. When he signed with the Toronto Blue Jays at the age of 16, the spotlight was on.
“There was a hype around him based solely on his name,” said Liam Hendriks, the closest to the Chicago White Sox, who played for Toronto when Guerrero turned pro. “And then he came and beat – and at 16 it was something special.”
On Tuesday night at Coors Field, Guerrero went from prodigy to fully trained superstar. With an impressive circuit and a stage on the ground, Guerrero has won an award that has eluded his father’s Hall of Fame: Most Valuable Player in the All-Star Game.
The American League won, 5-2, for its eighth straight win and its twentieth in the past 24 All-Star Games. The evening had an international atmosphere: the winning pitcher, Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels, is Japanese; Hendriks, who got the stop, is Australian; and Guerrero is Dominican via Canada, where he was born while his father played for the Montreal Expos.
“We are now watching a world match,” Hendriks said, later adding, “Shohei is a traveling billboard hopefully more Japanese will come sooner.”
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Several veterans refused to attend this year’s event while they were healthy enough to play for their teams: Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros, Mookie Betts of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Jacob deGrom of the Mets, and others. In this context, Ohtani distinguished himself as a particularly good sport, enthusiastically participating in the Home Run Derby on Monday, then as a starting pitcher and designated hitter of the AL on Tuesday.
He led the match with one pitch in the second – the NL played in a lag, even for one show – then took out the side in order at the bottom of the first on a fly out and two ground outs. Ohtani resumed batting, crashed into first base, then finally relaxed.
“It was definitely a lot more tiring than the regular season, but what if everyone’s down?” Ohtani said through an artist, later adding, “If more people watch baseball, it makes me happy. It’s good for the sport.”
Ohtani didn’t win by price, didn’t score a strike, and didn’t reach the base. But he blew up a 500-foot ball in the Home Run Derby and threw a ball at 100mph in the game, a mind-boggling mix of skill.
“He is out of this world, Guerrero said through an interpreter. “He’s not from here. It’s great, I don’t even know what to say. Pitch, hit, incredible. “
Guerrero has his spellbound season, leading the majors in Media (.332), Percentage on Base (.430) and RBI (73), to go with 28 home runs. He and Ohtani were part of the 42 All-Star record for the first time here, and after a pre-match tribute to Hank Aaron – whose widow, Billye, was escorted to the court by Aaron Judge and Freddie Freeman – the game heralded a future led by players like Guerrero, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Juan Soto, who are only 22 years old.
“The thing is, they’re very excited about them, but they’re very curious,” said Dave Roberts of the Dodgers, who led the NL team. “They are what this game is about and what this game will be for the next decade. For me, as a guy who has been around for a while, you have to deal with this. This youthful energy is fantastic.
Guerrero’s night may have taken a darker turn than the first, when it burned a bullet just over the head of starter Max Scherzer. Second baseman Adam Frazier fielded him and sent Guerrero out, who then wrapped Scherzer in a hug. On Monday, Scherzer had told Guerrero to take it easy with him.
“I’m alive and I haven’t been hit by the bullet – that’s my success,” Scherzer told reporters, adding, “I’m just grateful that I still have one blue and one brown eye.”
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Guerrero headed skyward after his third-round homerun, which landed deep in the center of the left and sits on a slider suspended by Corbin Burnes, who suffered defeat. Guerrero had told some Blue Jays teammates that he was going to win the MVP, but they could have foreseen it anyway.
“When he hit him, it was kind of like, ‘There was there, we were waiting for him,'” said Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette. “And then how far he touched it, it’s not not even surprising. It’s incredible. Great scenes, he always does.
Other highlights to follow: Guerrero’s RBI. the ground in fifth position extended AL’s lead to 3-0; Mike Zunino of the Rays made a homerun opposite the second deck on the sixth; and Jared Walsh degli Angeli, playing on the left for the first time in the majors, made a sliding hold to finish eighth with the bases loaded.
But the MVP was Guerrero through and through, a cap fit for the player who received the most fan votes. The boy who accompanied his father to the All-Star Game is now the youngest MVP in video game history.
“Dreams come true,” Guerrero said. “Ever since I was a child, I have been thinking about this moment; he worked all his life, very hard. Thank goodness it’s happening right now. “
