Louisville Slugger Releasing Guerrero Jr. Family-Inspired Pro Prime Bat

Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has enjoyed a successful 2021 season. Following a reworking of his body and swing prior to the season, he now ranks at or near the top of the American League in OPS, batting average, home runs and RBI. He may even be a candidate for American League MVP.

And now he has a new Louisville Slugger bat to go alongside his play. Launching Wednesday, Sept. 22, the Guerrero Jr.-inspired Pro Prime Louisville Slugger comes as a VG27 featuring Pro Prime Birch. The model was designed by Guerrero Jr. in conjunction with the Louisville Slugger product team and features the same design he used to launch a 468-foot home run out of Coors Field in Denver during the 2021 All Star Game.

The design, mimicking the same specs as his VG27 with an uncapped birch, showcases his love of family. “I would like to focus the theme on family,” Guerrero Jr. says about the design.

Thanks to his family, Guerrero Jr. has seen the spotlight much of his life. In 2002, at the age of three, he stood alongside his father in a matching Montreal Expos uniform at Olympic Stadium. A now iconic photo of the young Guerrero Jr. lifting his Expos batting helmet was part of the inspiration for the design.

“I would like the red, white and blue, like the uniforms of the Expos,” Guerrero Jr. says about the bat design.

To make it happen, the bat features a red barrel and a royal blue handle. The flag of the Dominican Republic appears in the Louisville Slugger logo with additional gold foil accents. Maples leaves appear on the end brand as a nod to his family’s history in Canada, both Montreal and Toronto. You’ll find a pair of Bibles on the end brand, a tie to Guerrero’s religion. The word “family” replaces his name on the barrel and the silhouette of a three-year-old Guerrero Jr. with his father appears on the knob medallion. The number 27, a uniform number shared by both father and son, can also be seen in the medallion.

The bat, available at retail Sept. 22, has a price of $150.

For many Dominican and Spanish-speaking players, the Guerrero family members act as ambassadors of the game, says a Louisville Slugger spokesperson. Guerrero Jr., extremely popular in his home country, is widely known in the Dominican Republic for the sound that his bat makes when he strikes the ball: “¡PLAKATA!”

Tim Newcomb covers gear and business for Baseball America. Follow him on Twitter at @tdnewcomb.