That Sonic Boom You Hear? It’s Vlad Guerrero Jr. Again

As a player with a 1.073 OPS in the minor leagues this year, there’s proof the ball looks different off Vladimir Guerrero Jr.‘s bat. The ball also sounds different off his bat. Vlad’s swing produces a sonic boom unlike anything I’ve ever heard.

That blast you may have heard already is Guerrero connecting for yet another extra-base hit in the Arizona Fall League. In two games, he already has four doubles and is well on his way to conquering another level in 2018.

Part of the lore of Guerrero’s ascension this season has been the fan footage of his towering home runs in the minor leagues. When he hits in cavernous ballparks, the ball sounds like an explosion from Vlad’s bat. This was just another example of his ridiculous power.


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Turn down the lights, listen to this on repeat and let it be your new slow jam. Seriously, listen to it on loop at least 10 or 20 times … the incredible echo off Vladdy’s bat as he launches a ball to the outfield is something to behold.

The best description comes from Guerrero himself: “Plakata”. That’s the sound of a baseball’s soul exiting its body.

In case you were looking for a different angle of this sonic boom, MLB Pipeline has you covered. The audible gasps from the crowd tell you how hard Vlad hit that baseball.

Good things come in threes, so why not another perspective of this Vlad Jr. extra-base hit? Again, I don’t know if the echo is because there are so few people in the stands, or if it’s because Guerrero’s swing produces a sound that’s almost too much for the human ear to process.

The Blue Jays were wildly underwhelming in 2018, but Vlad’s eventual arrival in 2019 is one of the biggest reasons to keep your eyes (and ears) on the team next season.

Ian Hunter

Ian has been writing about the Toronto Blue Jays since 2007. He enjoyed the tail-end of the Roy Halladay era and vividly remembers the Alex Rodriguez "mine" incident. He'll also retell the story of Game 5 of the 2015 ALDS to his kids for the next 20 years.