TORONTO – Despite a good series in Cleveland with four hits, including a home run, and six RBIs earlier this month, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. still didn’t feel right so he reached out to John Schneider and the two made plans to talk. 

The Toronto Blue Jays manager regularly checks in with his superstar, “he calls one in the morning, two in the morning to see how I am,” the first baseman said, and they decided to huddle up in the visitors’ clubhouse at Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium.

“Sometimes we lie a lot, we say we're good and we're not good,” Guerrero explained. “If you need help, just ask for help. I learned a lot about that this year and the other day I told him I just need help and we talked for like 45 minutes in his office. After that I felt relief, because I needed to talk with somebody that can hear me, besides my family. I talk with my family every day, but sometimes you need other people to hear you and feel you. Everything's been great after that. My mind has been clear.”

The conversation is demonstrative of the toll a difficult season at the plate has taken on the 27-year-old and the fortitude he’s shown in pushing through the daily angst to stay in the grind. Importantly, he hasn’t let batting .262/.334/.360 with nine home runs and 56 RBIs, heading into Friday’s series opener at the Texas Rangers, impact who he is, making the difficult look routine defensively at first base, playing with energy, maintaining his infectious smile and joviality while caring for those around him. 

There’s a wider significance to that, as having signed a $500-million, 14-year contract, Guerrero’s fully cognizant of how impactful every single thing he does can be, both externally and internally, and that the way he carries himself sets a tone for the club. He knows that if he mopes or sulks, if he worries only about himself, that creates permission for others to do the same, which is why he’s made a conscious effort to not let his personal frustrations and physical limitations bleed into his behaviour. 

“In watching Vlad go through it, I try to use it as an opportunity to make sure that good can come out of it and to his credit, he hasn't budged,” said Schneider. “The fact that he has posted, the fact that he's........

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