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Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is one of the best young talents in all of baseball. At the age of 21, he was the runner-up for the MVP and it can certainly be argued that he was at least as deserving as Shohei Ohtani, who won the award.
In 2023, the Toronto Blue Jays star still has loads of potential and can easily become one of the best players in baseball. MLB analyst Ryan Spilborghs believes he'll be considered the best first baseman in the game after the 2023 season.
Spilborghs said:
"I think Vlad is a top two first baseman in the league and that's saying something. I think with Vladdy, the sky is the limit. Bat to ball skills, how I think he's playing defensively, where he was two years ago- last year a little bit of a step back- he's 23 years old."
He continued:
"I think offensively he might put up the best numbers of anybody heading into the '23 season... of the first basemen. Guerrero being three, I understand it, but I think at the end of the year, we're going to say, 'Holy moly, that's the best first baseman in baseball.'"
Guerrero had a down year by his standards in 2022, but he was still quite good. If he can return to 2021 form, there's genuinely no reason to think he won't be the best first baseman in baseball.
There is steep competition with reigning NL MVP Paul Goldschmidt, Jose Abreu, Freddie Freeman, Matt Olson and others, but Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has the talent to outdo them all.
How good will Vladimir Guerrero Jr. be in 2023?
Vladimir Guerrero Jr., in a "down" year, still posted nearly 3 fWAR and recorded a 132 wRC+. In 2021, he was incredible with a 166 wRC+ and a stellar 6.3 fWAR.
The projections for 2023 are that he'll be somewhere close to that 2021 season. His most kind projections believe he can record 5.5 fWAR and a 160 wRC+.
These projections are often very conservative, so the 2021 numbers he put up could end up looking rather pedestrian by the end of the season.
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