Vlad Guerrero Jr. Ready to Write His Own Pro Legacy—and Blow Away His Dad's

DON GREGORIO, Dominican Republic — Ball after ball cracks off the bats of the next crop of Latino teenagers with MLB dreams at the Vladimir Guerrero Baseball Academy.

Then a different sound rises above the rest, an unmistakable thunder of something special. It's like what you'd hear from the batting cages at Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium or Wrigley Field. But instead of coming from a fully grown major leaguer, it comes from the bat of a boy still two years away from his country's legal driving age.

He also happens to be the son of a former American League MVP, nine-time All-Star—and the namesake of the academy.

It's not just his name or the way his bat strikes a ball that makes 16-year-old phenom Vlad Guerrero Jr. remind you of his dad. It's also his hulking presence at 6'1" and 220 pounds. It's his intense passion for the game of baseball. It's that he knows how to have fun while playing it—he's often seen joking around with teammates and flaunting his rocket arm from the outfield.

Heck, he even has the same uncanny ability to hit pitches miles out of the strike zone with authority—a trait that made his father famous and hitting coaches shake their heads.

"We have the same swing. We both have strong arms. I want to steal bases like he did...I can't think of anything that is different," Vlad Jr. says.

Vlad Sr. does see a difference. In his baseball heir, the eight-time 30-plus-home run hitter sees power even more jaw-dropping than his own.

"He has more power, a lot. I was very thin. Other than that, we are the same player," the proud father says. "We both played like men since we were very young."

He's a chip off the old block and a prospect who will incite quite the tug of war as his eligibility to sign with an MLB team arrives July 2. 

AP Photo/Paul Chiasson

Beyond his strength, the next thing you notice clear as day about Vlad Jr. is his unrelenting confidence. Big league scouts are watching his every move, and he loves each second of it.

Whenever he is at a showcase for scouts, with the stands packed, his competitive fire ignites and he rises to another level. He feeds off the crowd, pumping it up and yelling back and forth with fans or at the pitcher.

"I play better with pressure," Vlad Jr. says. "The ball goes farther."

And what about the pressure of living up to his father's legacy? Or even surpassing it?

Vlad Sr. sees in his son a player with the potential to do even more than he did in his own Hall of Fame-worthy career—though he's hoping not much more. "I want him to beat me by one in everything," he says. "One more All-Star Game, one more home run, one more hit, one more Silver Slugger."

Does Vlad Jr. flinch at those daunting expectations? Not for a second. Instead, posed the question, he provides an eyebrow-raising sample size of his swagger.

"No, I feel no pressure. I am confident in my own talent and ability," he says. "My dad had nine All-Star games, I want 10. He only had like 450 home runs, I am going to try to hit way more, like Bonds. I also want 3,000 hits—my dad just missed it."

And after watching Vlad Jr. crush 33 homers in just 60 swings (video above) in a competition with Gabby Guerrero—his cousin and 2014 MLB Futures Game participant—it's hard to doubt him.

What type of pro player does Vlad Jr. see himself becoming? Asked to name his baseball role models, family excluded, his list is ambitious:

"Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera and Mike Stanton. As an all-around player, I want to be like Mike Stanton," Vlad Jr. says. "He has the power and potential to be one of the best of all time. I think right now, my game can be best compared to [Stanton] because we both play outfield."

Lofty goals are all well and good, but the majority of highly touted prospects flame out for one reason or another—namely, they lack the dedication to turn baseball from a game into a full-time job after signing.

Matthew Marotta

For Vlad Jr., that work ethic has been instilled in him by his father and uncle Wilton Guerrero, a former MLB player who has trained him since he was just five years old.

"After God, he is my guide," Vlad Jr. said. "He taught me to play baseball."

Speaking with maturity beyond his years, he added, "I have good natural talent, but that is nothing without the hard work. I am dedicated to the game."

For most American 16-year-olds, a typical day involves Xbox, algebra homework and endless hours glued to a smartphone. For Vlad Jr.—playing in the Dominican, where it is normal for standout baseball players to leave school to focus on baseball—his life is a true representation of living and breathing the sport he loves. 

"I left school to play baseball full time years ago," he says. "I go to school on Saturdays. I wake up at 6 a.m. and run on the beach, do sprints and sometimes long-distance. Next, at around 7 a.m., we go to the field for fly balls and ground balls, then [batting practice]. 

"After that, we go to the gym around 10 a.m. for an hour to do weight training. In the afternoon, after we've eaten lunch, we will practice for maybe three hours doing everything. Sometimes I have 1,000 swings a day, maybe twice a week. Six hundred swings on the other days. There are no days off, maybe sometimes on Sunday, when I play softball."

There is no sense of entitlement, just the natural drive to succeed. 

Even his "down time" involves honing his skills, whether with the aforementioned softball team (which features a Nos. 3-4 lineup punch of Vlad Jr. and Vlad Sr.) or hitting pitched bottle caps with a broomstick—much like Vlad Sr. in his youth hit rocks with a spoon to work on his hand-eye coordination.

The academy that helped mold Vlad Jr. into the No. 2 overall international prospect in this year's class, according to MLB.com's Jesse Sanchez, may deserve some of the credit for his immense size as well. It provides a hired chef to cook free meals and infamous shakes—made of ice cream, rice, fresh fruit, protein, ice, sugar and spaghetti—which makes it not uncommon for kids to gain as much as 50 pounds in their first year there.

While not the case for Vlad Jr., many of the academy's athletes arrive thin and malnourished due to poverty-stricken backgrounds and use the teachings and resources of the facilities to pursue the only way out they have.

This sad truth highlights both the dark side and the benefits of properly funded programs like what the Guerreros offer. Though it involves chasing a big-money contract that may never come, life at the academy brings opportunity and treatment most couldn't dream of elsewhere.

Matthew Marotta

Vlad Jr. may not come from humble beginnings, but he does not let that take away from the real reason he plays the game.

"I love baseball," he says. "That's why I play. Money is not important. I play because I was born to play."

Baseball is in his blood, and regardless of where money falls on his priority list, a whole lot of it is about to be thrown his way.

If you believe Kiley McDaniel of FanGraphs, that number could be as much as $4.5 million from a certain Canadian franchise (too bad Vlad Sr.'s Expos had to move stateside).

Wherever Vlad Jr. ends up, he'll be a major coup with rare upside and elite genes. The hype will come early and often in his rise up the professional ranks, but one thing is certain with this kid: His demeanor seems tailor-made for the challenge and bright lights.

Matthew Marotta

Ken Griffey Jr. and Barry Bonds both successfully caught and blew by their fathers' impressive baseball legacies, and a 16-year-old with the self-belief of a star is about to embark on a journey with the same aspirations.

If his father's prediction is correct, he'll be live on your television set as early as 2019.

"I think he can make it four or five years after he signs this summer. If he works hard and that is what God wants."

Remember the name. It should already be all too familiar.

All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. A version of the interviews in this story previously appeared on Matthew Marotta's Twitter page, @MHallBaseball. Matthew held the positions of advisor and special assistant to baseball operations at the Vladimir Guerrero Baseball Academy from August 2014 through March 2015. He organized showcases for MLB scouts and had direct live-in access to the Guerrero family and the academy's facilities.