Vlad finally homers and it’s beautiful

On a full count against Nick Vincent of the San Francisco Giants on a Tuesday night, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit his first home run of his major league career, and it is the most gorgeous thing.

According to Statcast, his first homer had an exit velocity of 111.3 MPH, with a launch angle of 23 degrees and went a total of 438 feet. That 438 feet is the second-longest ball hit at Oracle Park this season, only under Gary Sanchez’s 467-foot homer.

He also know becomes the youngest Blue Jay to hit a home run, at the age of 20 years and 59 days old. The previous holder of the record was Danny Ainge at the age of 20 years and 77 days old.

It feels like a long time coming — expected to get off to a hot start — but after major-league pitchers not giving him anything to properly hit and some groundball struggles, the son of Vladimir Guerrero finally has one. It took 53 plate appearances, but it was well worth it.

So far this season, Vlad is slashing .191/.283/.234, but it is clearly not going to stay remotely like that if he continues to get some of the pitches that every other major leaguer is. There is no reason to worry and this first home run of his gives every single Jays fan a sigh of relief.

One part of his game that has certainly surprised is his defence. With a cannon for an arm to make groundouts look extremely easy, Vlad might be able to stay in the hot corner longer than initially expected by some baseball analysts.

With the first home run out of the way now, he can brush off a lot of pressure — we might just see a hot streak coming.