Vladimir Guerrero Jr. admits being surprised by John Schneider's Jose Berrios move in crushing Wild Card defeat - "Everybody was surprised"

Many were surprised, including first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., when Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider pulled off pitcher Jose Berrios during Game 2 of the Wild Card Series against the Minnesota Twins. Berrios was cruising, to say the least, and was having an efficient outing before his exit turned out to be pivotal in the Twins' 2-0 series-clinching victory against the Blue Jays.

The Puerto Rican pitcher threw 3.0 innings (47 pitches), gave up three hits, a run, a walk and struck out five before he was asked to warm the bench after walking Royce Lewis to start the fourth innings.

Even All-Star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was surprised by the move from Schneider and he shared his thoughts during a postgame interview:

“Obviously, everybody was surprised. Everybody was surprised with the decision, but there are things you cannot control. You can ask yourself many times, but it’s not our decision. We were surprised."

Post Berrios' exit, Yusei Kikuchi took the mound and what followed was not expected by Schneider. Kikuchi gave up an infield single to Max Kepler, walked pinch hitter Donovan Solano and the bases were now loaded. Carlos Correa singled to center field for the first run of the game. Another run was scored off Willi Castro's double-play grounder and the Twins scored two in that fourth innings.

The game was a shutout apart from the Twins' fourth innings, as Berrios' exit resulted in two runs being scored and eventually an early playoff exit for the Blue Jays.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s 2023 season

On July 10, 2023, the Blue Jays' first baseman won the home run derby contest against Randy Arozarena. He and his father became the first father-son combo to win the Derby, with Vladimir Guerrero winning in 2007. He even earned his third All-Star selection in 2023.

In the 2023 season, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. featured in 156 games, hitting .264, 26 home runs, drove in 94 runs and walked 67 times. His production was relatively down as compared to last year but he still came up clutch in important games for the Blue Jays.