Vladimir Guerrero Jr. put the baseball world on notice last season as he led the Toronto Blue Jays to within two outs of their first World Series championship since 1993.

Guerrero, 26, was a wrecking ball offensively, leading all of baseball in the postseason with eight home runs and 15 RBI while batting .397 through 18 playoff games.

His performance also put his personality on display and showed that he took more of a vocal leadership role than in years past.

“I spoke to [teammates] Myles Straw and George Springer about this and how Vladdy’s instinct was to lead by example and not be vocal,” ESPN’s Buster Olney told TSN’s First Up on Tuesday. “In the last seven weeks of the season last year as the Jays made this great run, Vladdy was not only playing well, but also becoming more of a vocal leader.

“That was something Springer acknowledged and had other people like [Los Angeles Dodgers manager] Dave Roberts, [Dodgers general manager] Andrew Friedman, and [Dodgers first baseman] Freddy Freeman all talking about how Vladdy emerged.”

Guerrero’s regular-season stats didn’t quite hold up to the standard that his playoff performance had. He hit for .292 last season with 23 home runs and 84 RBI. His home run and RBI totals were his lowest since his rookie year in 2019.

But Springer told Olney that he believes Guerrero’s playoff performance could be a stepping stone to returning to his MVP-consideration level of 2021, when he hit for .311 with 48 home runs and 111 RBI.

“George looked at me yesterday as I asked him about Vladdy as a hitter, and he said essentially that he’s only scratching the surface,” said Olney. “Springer thinks Vladdy will take a big step forward as a hitter because of the success he had last year. There’s a lot of hope coming out of Blue Jays’ camp.”

Another reason for optimism coming from the Blue Jays is the prospect of having a full season from rookie pitcher Trey Yesavage.

Yesavage was drafted 20th overall by the Blue Jays in 2024 and began last season in Single-A. He worked his way all the way up to the major leagues, making three starts to end the regular season.

The 6-foot-4 righty then made himself a household name in the playoffs, setting a Blue Jays postseason record with 11 strikeouts against the New York Yankees in the American League Divisional Series.

He was key in keeping their season alive in Game 6 against the Seattle Mariners in the American League Championship Series and his crown jewel was striking out 12 batters in seven innings in Game 5 of the World Series against the Dodgers, setting a World Series record for rookies.

Despite the excitement to see what Yesavage can do in a full regular season, there’s discussion about giving him a slow build up in order to preserve his arm.

“With Yesavage pitching deeper into October than expected, I think slow-playing him this year is a smart play,” said Olney. “I will say that slow-playing pitchers is something that the Dodgers, who won back-to-back championships, have done the last five or six years. They basically are trying to get pitchers to be in the best possible positions to help them down the stretch and into October.”

With Yesavage’s status in flux and starting pitching depth always a commodity, the Blue Jays brought back future Hall of Fame pitcher Max Scherzer on a one-year, $3 million deal with incentives.

Scherzer, 41, started 17 games last season, going 5-5 with a 5.19 earned-run average with 82 strikeouts. He also started three games for the Blue Jays in the playoffs, including Game 7 of the World Series, and went 1-0 with a 3.77 ERA with 11 strikeouts in 14.1 innings.

The three-time Cy Young award winner made his first appearance in Spring Training on Saturday, pitching four innings against the Philadelphia Phillies without allowing a hit.

“At this age, whatever you get out of him, you’re excited about,” said Olney. “He threw well [in his first Spring Training start] where it was the first time he saw hitters. He was ahead of where they thought he was going to be and his velocity is good.

“I thought it was a really smart move to bring him back to add depth. It puts yourself in a position where you inevitably have guys that will go down and you’ll be in a great spot to address it, especially in their division.

“The AL East is going to be an absolute beast, and you got to play the long game. That what bringing back Scherzer was all about.”