A player I love to watch - Vlad Guerrero

[Frobby]

In Old#5Fan's absence, I feel compelled to say how much I enjoy watching Vlad Guerrero play baseball. He'll swing at anything (swung 47% of the time at pitches outside the strike zone this year) and yet, when the year is over, he always hits .300 with a lot of HRs and RBI. And he does it all with a mischievous smile on his face. He seems like a great teammate and it will bother me to my dying day that we couldn't sign him back in '03.

[waroriole]

Yeah, he's one of my favorite non-Orioles. Really seems like he has a lot of fun.

[Palmoripken]

For some reason I think he could be called this generation's Clemente: The baseball ref comps disagree with me but he remidns me of Clemente in that he's a consistent 300 hitter as well as a free swinger. Saw a clip of him playing against us where the ball was practically ont he ground and he hit it. He was fun to watch in right field in his prime too. Did anyone else notice he doesn't wear batting gloves? I'd gladly vote for him for the HoF.

[byrdz]

Agreed, he's fun to watch hit, he's also one of the few barehanders. Got to a appreciate the toughness of that. Posada is the only other one I can think of.

[beaner]

Remember the "hatred" in 2004 after he signed with Anaheim? Man, Teixeira was tame compared to that..I remember one poster who said he'd go to every Angels/O's game and throw batteries at Vlad until he got thrown out. Good times!

I agree that he's great to watch. What a terrific hitter.

[Dr. FLK]

In Old#5Fan's absence.

Absence? Wait...what did I miss?

Oh yeah...I like Vlad too!

[Crazysilver03]

Absence? Wait...what did I miss?

Oh yeah...I like Vlad too!

He was banned for a month, like two or three weeks ago.

[beaner]

Absence? Wait...what did I miss?

Oh yeah...I like Vlad too!

Wow, I missed that too (though i took a few months off from OH myself, my own doing mind you).

[scOtt]

I always loved the violence of his swing. Him and Gary Sheffield, two hardest swingers I can remember.

[OFFNY]

On the subject of non-Oriole players, I loved watching John Tudor pitch.

.

[backwardsk]

I heard that they'll play him in the outfield in San Fran. He was part of an answer to this question: Four of the eight current 400+ HR that do not have a ring (from Mike and Mike).

[Moose Milligan]

Gotta love Vlad. Even when he hit that pitch against us that bounced in the dirt...an amazing talent. First ballot HoF all the way.

[Mr. Solo Dolo]

I love Vlad, but his AB's are painful to watch...yeah he's one of the best hitters of our time, but it looks like he's being held up by two wooden peg legs. How he still manages to hit at an above average rate is amazing.

I do enjoy his frequent pitch shots in the dirt from 100 yards out though. He's gotta be a 5 handicap at worst.

[BaltimoreTerp]

Somebody needs to sit down with Adam Jones and anyone else in the system who doesn't have plate discipline, show them an hour of Guerrero's greatest bad-ball hits, and say, "This is Vladimir Guerrero. He is one of the greatest hitters of all time, and can hit anything he swings at. None of you are him, so stop trying to be and learn to lay off bad pitches."

[sangar]

A lot of people talk about him golfing balls out of the dirt but one I remember was a pitch at must have been 18" over his head, he practically had to jump to reach it, and it went 8 rows deep. We will probably never see another Vlad.