Vladdy erases all doubt about his exceptionalism with epic Home Run Derby

For all the accolades and the name recognition, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. came into the Home Run Derby as a rookie finding his way at the big-league level.

The 20-year-old has just a .249/.328/.413 line at the all-star break and he hasn’t been the instant star prospect experts and objective projection systems alike predicted he’d be. None of that’s a real concern considering his age, but the fact of the matter is that before the Derby, he hadn’t shown himself to be a force of nature.

That’s precisely what he was on Monday night, hitting a record-annihilating 91 home runs and barely falling to Pete Alonso in the highest-scoring final of all time.

In short order, Guerrero Jr. turned the right batter’s box into a launching pad the likes of which we’ve never seen. His bat created violent collision after violent collision, serving up a buffet of balls for fans who hadn’t sprung for seats in the first couple of rows.

Once he found his groove, each swing of the bat was more unbelievable than the last. The assumption was that he’d have to tire, that the effort he put into each walloping would catch up to him at some point. Instead, the fury of his swing refused to diminish.

After he put up his eye-popping, record-setting 29 in the first round. He matched it in the second round and sat down with 58 home runs, just three short of the single-Derby record with plenty more Derby to come.

Somehow, Joc Pederson rose to his Herculean level, using absolutely everything he had to match the feat Guerrero Jr. had managed twice. Vladdy casually strode to the plate and managed eight more bombs in overtime — surely enough to dispatch Pederson. The Dodgers outfielder fought back and evened it up.

It took two three-swing overtimes for Vladdy to his rid himself of his determined antagonist. Pederson was a worthy foe, but Guerrero Jr. looked like a physical embodiment of inevitability. When he missed, he barely missed. The balls he connected on didn’t just leave the park, they fled.

Not only was he the catalyst for the greatest duel in the event’s history, he was its greatest-ever performer - as its youngest-ever participant.

The final round felt almost immaterial. If he won, it would be an appropriate cap on a night for the ages. If he lost, he’d made a Home Run Derby mark that will live as long as the event, possibly longer.

It was hard to argue Guerrero Jr. didn’t rise to the challenge, even if his last round seemed more mortal. It was undeniable he didn’t look like the guy who’d just made a mockery of the event missing the odd ball and hitting a few low line drives. But for his perceived fallibility, by the time his four minutes were done he’d hit 22 balls over the fence - a Derby finals record. Unfortunately for the 20-year-old, Alonso was the man to break that mark minutes later.

More important than that result was Guerrero Jr. looking exactly like the best hitting prospect the game has seen in a long time. Any of his struggles melted away and his inescapable talent shone through with blinding brightness. He wasn’t just better than it was fair to expect of a rookie, he was better than we thought any hitter could be in this event.

Coming into the season, Vladdy looked like a player with the potential to have a historic rookie year. That hasn’t happened yet, and realistically it’s not going to.

He did make history on Monday night, though. It might not be the type of history that helps determine championship outcomes, but it was a feat more enduring than anything he could have done for the 2019 Toronto Blue Jays.

There are countless chapters to come in the Vladimir Guerrero Jr. story, but whatever happens from here, the one he penned on Monday night will always be among the greats.

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