{"id":103795,"date":"2019-04-27T08:23:08","date_gmt":"2019-04-27T15:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=103795"},"modified":"2019-04-27T08:23:08","modified_gmt":"2019-04-27T15:23:08","slug":"mlb-top-prospect-vladimir-guerrero-jr-makes-highly-anticipated-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mlb-top-prospect-vladimir-guerrero-jr-makes-highly-anticipated-debut\/","title":{"rendered":"MLB Top Prospect and AL Rookie of the Year Favorite Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Makes Highly Anticipated Debut"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One of the most eagerly awaited baseball debuts in recent memory took place Friday night when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. played his first major league game for Toronto.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_103821\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-103821\" data-style=\"width: 980px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-103821\" src=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/vladimir-guerrero-jr-blue-jays-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"980\" height=\"551\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/vladimir-guerrero-jr-blue-jays-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/vladimir-guerrero-jr-blue-jays-142x80.jpg 142w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/vladimir-guerrero-jr-blue-jays-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/vladimir-guerrero-jr-blue-jays-166x93.jpg 166w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/vladimir-guerrero-jr-blue-jays-533x300.jpg 533w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/vladimir-guerrero-jr-blue-jays.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 980px) 100vw, 980px\" \/><figcaption  id=\"caption-attachment-103821\"class=\"text-description\">Vladimir Guerrero Jr. made his major league debut for Toronto Friday night. Oddsmakers have the 20-year-old slugger pegged as the favorite to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award this season. (Image: Kevin Sousa\/USA TODAY Sports)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The top prospect, who just turned 20 last month, in the game went 1-for-4 with a ninth-inning double that started the game-winning rally in the Blue Jays 4-2 victory over Oakland.<\/p>\n<p>New Jersey sportsbook <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/pointsbet-u-s-announces-new-sports-betting-policy-to-attract-sharps\">PointsBet<\/a> marked the occasion by offering +475 odds on whether Guerrero Jr. would hit a home run in his first game. He almost pulled it off.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was very close to hitting a home run here.<\/p>\n<p>(via <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FisherCats?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@FisherCats<\/a>) <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/WOTlXnfeg0\">pic.twitter.com\/WOTlXnfeg0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MLBONFOX\/status\/1121930705137614850?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 27, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Guerrero Jr., the son of a Hall of Famer, wore his father\u2019s Montreal Expos jersey as he arrived at the Rogers Centre Friday. His dad, Vladimir Guerrero Sr. was on hand to watch his son\u2019s debut.<\/p>\n<h2>Odds-on Favorite<\/h2>\n<p>Even the outs Guerrero Jr. made were impressive. In his first at bat, the ground ball he hit had an exit velocity of more than 106 miles per hour, making it the hardest ball hit all game. In addition to the near-miss home run, he took another ball to the warning track in right center before finally breaking through in the ninth inning for his first career hit.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\"><p><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>I was just concentrating on every at-bat, trying to do my job,\u201d <\/strong>Guerrero, speaking through an interpreter, told reporters after the game.<strong> \u201cI was excited. \u2026 It was just the way I dreamt it. I tried to make contact in my first at-bat and I did.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It\u2019s that kind of talent that oddsmakers noted when they tabbed him the favorite to win the American League Rookie of the Year Award before the season started.<\/p>\n<p>The SuperBook at Westgate started Guerrero at 4\/5 odds last month when it opened futures betting on the award. As of last week, his odds were 1\/2 and that was even with him still playing in the minor leagues.<\/p>\n<p>Betting at the SuperBook closes in August. MLB will announce the award winner in mid-November.<\/p>\n<h2>Baseball&#8217;s Next Superstar?<\/h2>\n<p>How special was this debut? Major League Baseball posted a video letter from father to son yesterday to mark Guerrero Jr.\u2019s first game.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t know when I gave you my name, that I\u2019d also give you my swing or even my love of the game,\u201d the elder Guerrero wrote.<\/p>\n<div class=\"arve\" data-mode=\"normal\" data-oembed=\"1\" data-provider=\"youtube\" id=\"arve-youtube-n9n5mromj3c66eda404a8cf8751562641\" style=\"max-width:900px;\">\n<span class=\"arve-inner\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"arve-embed arve-embed--has-aspect-ratio\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 500 \/ 281\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"arve-ar\" style=\"padding-top:56.200000%\"><\/span><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen class=\"arve-iframe fitvidsignore\" data-arve=\"arve-youtube-n9n5mromj3c66eda404a8cf8751562641\" data-src-no-ap=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/n9N5mROMJ3c?feature=oembed&amp;iv_load_policy=3&amp;modestbranding=1&amp;rel=0&amp;autohide=1&amp;playsinline=0&amp;autoplay=0\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"505.8\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-presentation allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/n9N5mROMJ3c?feature=oembed&#038;iv_load_policy=3&#038;modestbranding=1&#038;rel=0&#038;autohide=1&#038;playsinline=0&#038;autoplay=0\" width=\"900\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/span><br \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"http:\\\/\\\/schema.org\\\/\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.casino.org\\\/news\\\/mlb-top-prospect-vladimir-guerrero-jr-makes-highly-anticipated-debut\\\/#arve-youtube-n9n5mromj3c66eda404a8cf8751562641\",\"type\":\"VideoObject\",\"embedURL\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\\\/embed\\\/n9N5mROMJ3c?feature=oembed&iv_load_policy=3&modestbranding=1&rel=0&autohide=1&playsinline=0&autoplay=0\"}<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>Guerrero Jr. has been hyped as a can\u2019t-miss prospect for more than a year, and his arrival mirrors the anticipation for such players as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/bryce-harper-agrees-to-landmark-330m-deal-with-philadelphia\">Bryce Harper<\/a> and Ken Griffey Jr. He entered this season as the game\u2019s top prospect in rankings by Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus.<\/p>\n<p>He actually could have made his debut last season if not for a knee injury that robbed him of more than a month of action. As a 19-year-old, he hit .381 with 20 home runs and 78 runs batted in just 357 at bats, most of which came in AA and AAA ball against much older competition.<\/p>\n<div class=\"callout\">\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m impressed, to tell you the truth,&#8221; Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo told the Associated Press in spring training. &#8220;That&#8217;s the mark of a star. He&#8217;s going to be a star someday, as we all know.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Many felt Guerrero was ready to play for the Blue Jays at the beginning of this season. However, Toronto officials kept him in AAA Buffalo for the first month of the season. In doing so, the Blue Jays gained an extra year of control over the promising slugger.<\/p>\n<p>Thousands arrived early Friday to watch him take batting practice and see him hit tape-measure shots into the stadium\u2019s upper decks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the most eagerly awaited baseball debuts in recent memory took place Friday night when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. played his first major league game for Toronto. The top prospect, who just turned 20 last month, in the game went 1-for-4 with a ninth-inning double that started the game-winning rally in the Blue Jays 4-2 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":103821,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>MLB Top Prospect Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Makes Highly Anticipated Debut<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The 20-year-old slugger and son of a Hall of Famer went 1-for-4 in his first major league game Friday and nearly hit his first home run as well.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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He also specializes in sports betting and horse racing. Steve is a veteran reporter and brings more than two decades of experience covering sports, business and politics. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Steve has also covered major collegiate and professional sports for the Associated Press and the Louisville Courier-Journal and is frequently featured on local network TV newscasts and podcasts for his horse racing business and legislative expertise. A Reuters contributor, he has also previously served as editor for Government Security News. Steve lives in Louisville, Kentucky -- the epicenter of the US horse racing industry -- with his wife and son. He is also an avid poker player, having learned from his uncle as a wholesome after-school pastime with cookies and milk. 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