Top Blue Jays prospect Guerrero Jr. set for triple-A debut

Sean Reid-Foley has done something not many minor league pitchers have been able to do — get a ground-ball out from Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

The shining moment for Reid-Foley came in an intrasquad game during spring training this year when he threw a fastball away to the top prospect in Major League Baseball.

Guerrero hit the ball weakly to the second baseman, who scooped it up and fired to first for the out.

"We talked about it afterwards and he was asking me certain questions about [my pitch selection]," Reid-Foley said Monday at the home stadium of the Buffalo Bisons, where Guerrero is to report Tuesday for his triple-A debut. "He said: 'I wasn't looking for a fastball, I was looking for a breaking ball,' so we talked about that.

"He's always working, always thinking. He wants to be here every day and he wants to do the best to keep the fans interested and win every game."

Guerrero's new locker at Coca-Cola Field was set up Monday in anticipation of his arrival. And the star third baseman made a quick appearance at the stadium, dressed in a Bisons t-shirt and peering over the dugout railing as his new teammates took batting practice.

Making adjustments

The son of former Montreal Expos great Vladimir Guerrero — Vlad Jr. was up the road in Cooperstown, N.Y., on Sunday to watch his father's induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame — dominated his double-A opponents through 61 games with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.

He hit 14 homers, drove in 60 runs and had a .402 batting average.

Bisons manager Bobby Meacham said he's curious to see how Guerrero can adapt to pitching at the triple-A level, which he described as "a bit more experienced" than double-A.

"The key is once [the opposing pitchers] find one little flaw in the swing that they can exploit, what's he going to do to cover that and try to adapt to that?" Meacham said.

"Typically you might see a couple pitches to hit in an at-bat at double-A but at triple-A you'll only see one."

Reid-Foley remembers the adjustments he had to make after a lacklustre triple-A debut earlier this season.

The 22-year-old right-hander, who started the season with Guerrero in New Hampshire, allowed eight runs over 2 1/3 innings in a loss to the Syracuse Chiefs on May 24.

Reid-Foley didn't allow the rough outing to shake him, though, and he's gone 7-1 over 12 starts since.

"You make an adjustment every time you move [up a level], really you make an adjustment every time you pitch, every time you step on the mound," Reid-Foley said before adding that he doesn't think Guerrero will have much trouble with that.

Eager for the challenge

"It's Vlad," he said. "He's going to do what got him here and whether that adjustment is something mentally or physically as an approach, he'll do it."

Meacham had only seen Guerrero in action in person twice before Tuesday.

Both times were during spring training, and one was by mistake when he wrote the wrong Guerrero into his lineup before an intrasquad game in 2016.

"It was supposed to be Emilio Guerrero but Vlad came up to play third, so I gave him one at-bat," Meacham said with a laugh.

"[What jumped out] was how comfortable he looked and how eager he was to go up against people who were supposed to be better than him. It was almost as if he wanted to see how good he could be and how big of a challenge it was. ... And he didn't back down, he was up to the task and it looked like he enjoyed it and wanted more of it."

"Hopefully the same thing happens here," Meacham added. "Hopefully he looks forward to the challenge of going up another level and he conquers it like he conquered double-A."