SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had four singles in his spring training debut for the Toronto Blue Jays, a 9-3 win at the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday.The 18-year-old third baseman, whose father Vladimir will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this summer, signed with Toronto in July 2015 for a $3.9 million bonus.He was the designated hitter and had hits in the second inning off Nestor Cortes Jr., in the sixth and seventh against Tim Melville and in the ninth versus Asher Wojciechowski. He also flied out in the fourth against Darren O'Day. He hit .323 with 13 homers and 76 RBIs at a pair of Class A teams last year with a .910 OPS."Good looking hitter," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "He looks like he has fun playing."Bo Bichette, a son of former major leaguer Dante Bichette, had two hits and drove in two runs for Toronto. The Blue Jays' Anthony Alford had two doubles and his second triple. Aaron Sanchez allowed one run in three innings and struck out five.ELSEWHERE AROUND... [More]

SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had four singles in his spring training debut for the Toronto Blue Jays, a 9-3 win at the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday.The 18-year-old third baseman, whose father Vladimir will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this summer, signed with Toronto in July 2015 for a $3.9 million bonus.He was the designated hitter and had hits in the second inning off Nestor Cortes Jr., in the sixth and seventh against Tim Melville and in the ninth versus Asher Wojciechowski. He also flied out in the fourth against Darren O'Day. He hit .323 with 13 homers and 76 RBIs at a pair of Class A teams last year with a .910 OPS."Good looking hitter," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "He looks like he has fun playing."Bo Bichette, a son of former major leaguer Dante Bichette, had two hits and drove in two runs for Toronto. The Blue Jays' Anthony Alford had two doubles and his second triple. Aaron Sanchez allowed one run in three innings and struck out five.ELSEWHERE AROUND... [More]

SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had four singles in his spring training debut for the Toronto Blue Jays, a 9-3 win at the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday.The 18-year-old third baseman, whose father Vladimir will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this summer, signed with Toronto in July 2015 for a $3.9 million bonus.He was the designated hitter and had hits in the second inning off Nestor Cortes Jr., in the sixth and seventh against Tim Melville and in the ninth versus Asher Wojciechowski. He also flied out in the fourth against Darren O'Day. He hit .323 with 13 homers and 76 RBIs at a pair of Class A teams last year with a .910 OPS."Good looking hitter," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "He looks like he has fun playing."Bo Bichette, a son of former major leaguer Dante Bichette, had two hits and drove in two runs for Toronto. The Blue Jays' Anthony Alford had two doubles and his second triple. Aaron Sanchez allowed one run in three innings and struck out five.ELSEWHERE AROUND... [More]

Alford went 3-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base for High-A Dunedin in Monday's defeat to Clearwater.

Alford pushed his batting average in Dunedin to .301 with his three-hit gamehis second in as many days. Furthermore, the stolen base was his 23rd of the year after stealing only 11 in the previous three seasons combined. A hot commodity at the deadline, the 21-year-old will be an important part of the Blue Jays' outfield depth moving forward.

Alford, 21, is slashing .291/.362/.406 with one home run and nine steals in 185 plate appearances with High-A Dunedin.

Alford's name came up in trade rumors at the deadline, but the Blue Jays were able to acquire their big pieces without dipping into their organizational position player depth. The 6-foot-1 center fielder is a bit of a unique prospect, as his best offensive skill is probably his ability to work the count, as he posted a ridiculous 16.8 percent walk rate at Low-A and is now walking at almost a 10 percent clip at High-A. He has enough speed to be a contributor, but he is unlikely to ever steal much more than 30 bases in a season at the big league level. If everything goes right, Alford could be a table-setter at the big league level in the mold of Denard Span, which would make him valuable in almost all formats.

Alford is getting on base at a .432 clip with 10 steals in 192 plate appearances with Low-A Lansing.

Lansing lends itself to high averages on balls in play, but even so, his .427 BABIP is a bit outlandish. Still, his 18.8 percent walk rate could be a sign of things to come as he moves up the organizational ranks. Alford was playing college football last season, so he has a ton of upside now that he is finally committed to playing baseball full time. Alford's power and speed should both start to show more prominently as he matures as a baseball player, and by season's end he could be one of the biggest risers on prospect boards.