Happy Birthday to Vladimir Guerrero, Hall of Fame Right Fielder. During a career that lasted 16 seasons playing for the Montreal Expos, Los Angeles Angels, Texas Rangers, and the Baltimore Orioles, Guerrero was one the best all-around hitters of his time. 

Career Statistics/Accolades (1996-2011):

.318 BA 2,590 HITS 449 HR 1,496 RBI 1,328 RUNS .379 OBP

  • 9x All-Star
  • 8x Silver Slugger
  • 2004 AL MVP

As a Hitter

  Guerrero was an exceptional all-around hitter, known as one of the greatest bad ball hitters to ever play. Guerrero was able to swing at just about every pitch. Career-wise, Guerrero hit 126 home runs and put 1,780 balls in play after the first pitch of the bat. Guerrero batted .300 or higher twelve times in his career, eleven years in consecutive. Averaging 195 Hits a season for their career, he eclipsed 200 Hits multiple times. In terms of producing runs, Guerrero drove in 100 or more RBIs ten times in his career, as well as averaging 34 Home Runs in a year for a career. Being able to hit pitches from the outside, was a reason why Guerrero never struck out 100 times in a season during his career.

As a Fielder

   Despite having a cannon for an arm from Right Field, I can’t say that Guerrero was a good fielder. Spending 1,605 Games and 13.768.2 Innings in Right Field, Guerrero put up a Fielding Percentage of .963, which was -.018 below the league average among Right Fielders. For the final years of his career, Guerrero would for the most part be the full time DH.

Best Years

  Guerrero certainly had more than eight years, putting up Hall of Fame-worthy statistics. Down below are what I consider his best eight seasons.

1998: .324 BA 202 HITS 38 HR 109 RBI .371 OBP 108 RUNS (159 Games)

1999: .316 BA 193 HITS 42 HR 131 RBI .378 OBP 102 RUNS (160 Games)

2000: .345 BA 197 HITS 44 HR 123 RBI .410 OBP 101 RUNS (154 Games)

2002: .336 BA 206 HITS 39 HR 111 RBI .417 OBP 106 RUNS (161 Games)

2004: .337 BA 206 HITS 39 HR 126 RBI .391 OBP 124 RUNS (156 Games)

2005: .317 BA 165 HITS 32 HR 108 RBI .394 OBP 95 RUNS (141 Games)

2006: .329 BA 200 HITS 33 HR 116 RBI .382 OBP 92 RUNS (156 Games)

2007: .324 BA 186 HITS 27 HR 125 RBI .403 OBP 89 RUNS (150 Games)

Legacy

   What a career; I understand that Guerrero wasn’t good enough as a fielder, but he is a Hall of Fame-worthy hitter. When you have ten-plus years of either batting well over .300 or driving in 100 or more RBIs, nothing much needs to be said. Despite his defensive issues, I think it’s ridiculous that Guerrero didn’t get into the Hall of Fame on his first ballot. He was enshrined on his 2nd ballot and went in wearing an Angels hat into Cooperstown, which I understand he won an MVP with them; however, most of his career was spent with the former Montreal Expos.

References:

  1. Vladimir Guerrero via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Guerrero#
  2. Vladimir Guerrero Career Statistics via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/guerrvl01.shtml