Will Vlad Jr. join his dad in the Hall of Fame? How his early career numbers stack up
Editor's note: This is a bonus Weird and Wild column. To read more Weird and Wild from the past week, go here and here.
The Vladimir Guerrero Jr. number you've been hearing all week is 500 million — which is how many dollars the Toronto Blue Jays are going to be depositing in his money market fund over the next 14 years. But how'd you like to peruse some other numbers?
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Here's why: Because Vladdy has a real chance to make it to the Hall of Fame. And that's something to think about — since he has a father, Vlad Guerrero Sr., who is already in the Hall of Fame. And you know what we've never seen in the history of this sport?
A father and son who both made it into the Hall of Fame as players. But Vladdy has put himself into position to make that possible — and to do it as the face of his franchise. What makes us think so? Here's what.
He's already done so much — Last year was Vlad Jr.'s age-25 season. When he finished it, he already had 160 career homers. Did you know … of all the Hall of Fame position players whose careers began in the expansion era (1961-present), only two of them had more home runs at that age: Ken Griffey Jr. (189) and Johnny Bench (179).
Then there's this: You'd be amazed by all the Hall of Famers who weren't even close to Vladdy through age 25. Like these guys, for instance:
(*still hadn't come over from Japan)
Do we forget how young Vladdy still is? It feels like Vlad Guerrero Jr. has been around for almost as long as Andrew McCutchen. Nope. This guy just turned 26 three weeks ago. It's wild to think he's still younger than …
Griffin Conine
JJ Bleday
Spencer Horwitz
Josh Smith
Josh Lowe
Michael Busch
Luken Baker
And many, many, many other hitters who feel as if they're just starting their careers.
Father vs. son — And finally, let's see where Vladdy compares with his dad at the same age (through their age-25 seasons). It's eye-opening.
(WAR is according to Baseball Reference)
Now we can't predict the future. We don't know if Vlad Jr. is going to get another 2,000 hits over these next 14 years — or 2,000 days on the injured list. We don't know if he's going to age like his dad — who was still making All-Star teams at 35 — or like Darryl Strawberry, who never had 2-WAR season after 29.
But we're talking about a guy with a chance to write a special story — for two generations of Guerreros. I can't wait to see how it turns out.
GO DEEPER
Baseball Hall of Fame tiers: Which active players are on course for Cooperstown?
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