Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who struggled through what was described as his worst season at the plate while dealing with injuries, has undergone laser vision correction surgery performed by Dr. Gabriel Lazcano at the Laser Eye Center of Miami. The Blue Jays' general manager, Ross Atkins, acknowledged during a media meeting that they need to address how to get Guerrero back to performing up to his half-billion-dollar contract expectations. Guerrero's post-season performance in 2025 was notably strong, with an OPS of 1.289 and eight home runs, raising questions about the timing and impact of his vision issues on his regular season struggles.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-11,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
When Blue Jays management met the media for their annual post-mortem last week, general manager Ross Atkins was unclear, to put it mildly, about how they were going to get Vladimir Guerrero Jr. back to being a player who was worthy of his half-billion-dollar contract after the slugger struggled through the worst season of his career.
uncertain
slugger → meet → career
Injuries certainly played a factor.
asserted
Injuries → play → factor
Guerrero had a slash line of .246/.301/.347 after getting hit by a pitch on May 24, a fastball that he thought broke his elbow at the time, and he dealt with back and knee problems all season.
uncertain
he → have → problems
But, as it turns out, the 27-year-old was also having a hard time seeing the baseball and his first off-season move was to deal with that.
asserted
move → turn → that
Guerrero has had laser vision correction surgery, performed by Dr. Gabriel Lazcano at the Laser Eye Center of Miami, according to a post on the facility’s Instagram page Thursday.
uncertain
Guerrero → have → page
The post showed a picture of Guerrero at his post-op visit with Dr. Lazcano.
asserted
post → show → Lazcano
Such visits generally happen a day or two after surgery is performed.
asserted
surgery → happen → ?
There was no mention of what procedure Guerrero had done, which is to be expected under health information privacy rules, but the post included the hashtag #DrLASIK305, which is Lazcano’s handle on both Instagram and X, and LASIK is his specialty.
asserted
LASIK → be → Instagram
According to the Mayo Clinic, it can take up to two or three months before the eye heals completely and vision stabilizes.
uncertain
vision → accord → months
That gives Guerrero plenty of time before spring training, even if things start on time which, given the current labour situation, is highly unlikely.
asserted
which → give → situation
One wonders how long Guerrero has been dealing with vision issues, as it’s impossible to look at what he did in last year’s post-season and imagine that he wasn’t seeing the ball awfully well back then.
asserted
he → wonder → ball
Guerrero hit .397 with a 1.289 OPS in the 2025 playoffs, walking 14 times against only seven strikeouts.
asserted
Guerrero → hit → strikeouts
His 29 hits would have tied the all-time MLB record for a single post-season had Ernie Clement not notched 30 of his own.
asserted
Clement → tie → own
To go from that level of production to needing laser vision correction in less than one calendar year is pretty astonishing.
asserted
go → go → year
Looking for clues in Guerrero’s season doesn’t really come up with much at first glance.
asserted
Looking → look → glance
It’s not as though his numbers cratered as the year progressed, although he was hitting .354 with a .907 OPS at the end of April.
asserted
he → ’ → April
He was extremely up-and-down the rest of the way, with an OPS of .498 in June, .729 in July, .558 in August and .737 in September, which doesn’t suggest that his vision was deteriorating over the course of the season.
But there’s a big hint in one particular number.
asserted
vision → suggest → number
In 2025, Guerrero hit .263 against breaking pitches with a slugging percentage of .440.
asserted
Guerrero → hit → .440
The only other time he had slugged below .424 on breaking balls was 2019, seeing major-league stuff for the first time as a rookie.
asserted
he → slug → rookie
Even in his struggles, Guerrero still hit .293 against fastballs this season.
asserted
Guerrero → hit → fastballs
It appears as though he had a harder time than ever picking up spin.
asserted
he → appear → spin
When he squared up the baseball, he still made great contact, finishing 12th in the majors in blast contact rate.
asserted
he → square → rate
But he also had the lowest average exit velocity and highest weak-contact rate of his career, and the lowest hard-hit rate since his rookie season.
asserted
he → have → season
If anything, Guerrero choosing to undergo this procedure shows that he’s not willing to rest on his laurels and collect a paycheque for the next 13 years, a conclusion many jumped to last month after he stated his belief that contracts are awarded for what players have done in the past and not what they will accomplish in the future.
asserted
they → choose → future
He apologized for creating that controversy a couple of days later.
asserted
He → apologize → days
Getting one’s cornea reshaped by lasers isn’t a move one tends to make when they’re setting up their easy chair and waiting for the huge cheques to come rolling in.
asserted
cheques → get → chair
While Guerrero recovers from the procedure, he’ll get the rest that he mentioned needing late in the season, but having sharper vision alone won’t fix all that went wrong in 2026.
asserted
that → recover → 2026
Despite the boyish antics on the field, which seem to rub a lot of fans the wrong way when things aren’t going well, Guerrero is an exceedingly proud young man, dedicated to chasing the Hall of Fame numbers that his father produced and genuinely committed to winning.
asserted
father → seem → winning
He needs to average 20 home runs a year over the rest of his contract to catch his dad.
asserted
He → need → dad
This was the first full season where he missed that mark, hitting only nine.
asserted
he → miss → nine
Getting a better look at the baseball seems a good first step to put Guerrero back on track.
asserted
Getting → get → track
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