Future greatness: Examining a Vladimir Guerrero scouting report
By Tab Bamford
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum has incredible artifacts on display and available to researchers, from game tickets to priceless works of art and a fascinating collection of scouting reports on hundreds of major league players.
Now that Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., has been called up by the Blue Jays, it’s an appropriate time to look at how one scout evaluated someone close to the young phenom.
This is an amateur scouting report on Vladimir Guerrero, Sr., written by legendary scout Fred Ferreira in April 1993. The report provides ratings for aspects of Guerrero’s game and Ferreira’s comments on his physical appearance, abilities and weaknesses. Ferreira had a tremendous eye for talent in Latin America.
“Fred is an all-time scout who made a career signing All-Star players all over the world,” Dan Duquette once told Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com.
Three things stick out on this scouting report.
“Large hands – tuf nosed player.”
If you watched Vladi Sr. play you know he was a tough guy. He played through pain for years. Between 1998 and 2011, he played in fewer than 140 games only twice. He started his career playing eight years on Montreal’s artificial turf, which took its toll on players’ bodies for generations.
“Will hit, power, average. Plus plus arm”
What an understatement. Guerrero won eight Silver Slugger Awards, was a nine-time All-Star and the American League MVP in 2004. He accumulated 2,590 hits – including 449 home runs – and finished his career with a .318 average. His .931 career OPS is better than David Ortiz, Chipper Jones, Alex Rodriguez, Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson.
“No found weakness – unusual.”
One of the all-time great bad ball hitters, Vladi was an original. Compliments like this didn’t come frequently from a scout with the resume of Ferreira. Guerrero became one of the best right fielders of his generation.
How will scouting reports of his son play out? We’ll find out soon as he takes his place in the Blue Jays’ lineup.
Inset Image: Courtesy National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum