Shush face11/30/2022 ![]() ![]() “Now, on the other hand, the sacrifices that I had to make were obviously the food. “I like to compete so I took the workouts as a challenge,” he says. Guerrero fully committed to it, too, changing his entire lifestyle. Then over the winter in the Dominican Republic and on visits to the Blue Jays’ player development complex in Dunedin, Fla., he focused on his agility, flexibility, explosiveness and endurance. While playing all 60 games of the pandemic-shortened season, he arrived early every day to work himself into better shape, no simple task when trying to maintain strength and energy for the daily grind. Getting to this point for Guerrero is the result of his well-documented off-season workouts, which have helped him shed 42 pounds since he reported to summer camp at 282 pounds last July. “All those negative thoughts and all the talk of the past few years, I used that as a positive, positive energy to work very hard and to show everyone what kind of ballplayer and what kind of person I am.” ![]() “You know what? That made me stronger,” Guerrero replies. But when asked if he ever thought that chatter was unfair, he shakes his head. 791 OPS as a 21-year-old in the majors - he’d certainly be within his rights to call out the haters. Given how absurd some of the discussion around him got last year - with suggestions he should have been optioned after a slow start or that he was an overhyped bust despite posting a. ![]() “In this business, there are always negative people with negative thoughts, people talking about things that they probably never thought I was going to do, or things like that. “It’s basically just to let my work do the talking,” he says in an interview interpreted by Hector Lebron. The gesture is the closest thing to a public I-told-you-so from Guerrero, the ebullient emergent superstar who is the driving force on this Blue Jays team. “It’s something that is very personal and I respect that.” “He wanted to do that because he wanted the critics to be quiet and let him play,” says Rivera. It’s an intriguing choice given how loud the 22-year-old slugger’s play has been this year, and how it’s drowned out those who took shots at his physique and questioned his talent when he didn’t immediately meet impossible expectations and stomp the majors upon his 2019 arrival. have greeted each other not by slapping hands but by raising index fingers to their lips, the universal sign for quiet. Thirty-five times and counting he and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. “I tell them I’m not going to make a fool of myself with stuff I don’t feel comfortable doing,” he says, which speaks to his appreciation for the one gesture he’s done more often than any other this season. Over the years there have been high fives, low fives, fist bumps and a variety of salutes, and all he asks is that his players follow one simple rule. Home run celebrations are a form of personal expression on the baseball field, which is why Toronto Blue Jays third base coach Luis Rivera is generally down for whatever his players want when he congratulates them on the turn home. ![]()
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