'It’s not easy:' Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr. survives Home Run Derby gauntlet

SEATTLE – This was not a Home Run Derby as much as it was a battle of attrition.

“I felt like your mind is there,” says Julio Rodriguez, the Seattle Mariners’ homecoming king of this Derby at T-Mobile Park, “but your body is not.”

Rodriguez clobbered 41 home runs in the opening round Monday night, thrilling a capacity crowd that came to see their young superstar reign.

By the semifinal round, he was out, and gasping for air, and learning that sluggers can’t live on adrenaline alone.

When Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit 20 homers in regulation time of the finals, he fell to his knees, wheezing, girding himself for one more 60-second sortie. He pumped out five home runs, leaving fellow finalist Randy Arozarena of the Tampa Bay Rays to take aim at his 25-homer total.

HOME RUN DERBY RECAP: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. wins title, like father

And when Arozarena fell two homers short, Guerrero prevailing 25-23, Vlad Jr. struck Arozarena’s freeze pose in tribute. Arozarena fell to his knees and Guerrero cradled him in a flu game pose, Vlad the Pippen to Arozarena’s Jordan.

Guerrero, at last, joined his father as a Home Run Derby champion, 16 years after Vladimir Guerrero Sr. prevailed at San Francisco.

And it came four years after Guerrero put on a show at Cleveland, earning him oohs and ahhs but, like Rodriguez, no trophy.

Guerrero set a record in 2019, crushing 91 homers at Progressive Field but going home with nothing but a loss in the finals to Pete Alonso. You’d think Guerrero, at 24, might have learned some self-preservation techniques that 20-year-old Vlad ignored four years ago.

Think again.

“Nothing. Nothing at all,” an amusedly defiant Guerrero said, through translator Hector Lebron.“ Everybody was telling me to calm down, to slow down, but I can’t. I just can’t. I have to continue to hit homers.”

That he did, easily outpointing Mookie Betts 26-11 in the first round. Rodriguez, faced with the great Alonso, the two-time Derby champion, came out and slayed the dragon.

He pumped bomb after bomb into the stands at T-Mobile, most of them in the left field stands, breaking Guerrero’s 2019 record by hitting 41 of them, and sinking Alonso before he could find a groove.

Rodriguez just had nothing left for Vladdy.

Guerrero eased past him 21-20, while Arozarena was dispatching his bff Adolis Garcia (24-17) and No. 1 seed Luis Robert (35-22).

Finally, his 25-homer barrage against Arozarena stood up. His grand total: 72 home runs, which is far less than 91 but also etched him in the record books.

He and Lebron brought to the Derby a knockoff of the Blue Jays’ home run jacket, celebrating La Gente del Barrio, only this time it was the eight Derby participants’ names on the jacket and not the Jays.

By Derby’s end, that jacket was draped over Guerrero’s shoulders, which might have been heaving underneath.

After winning his first Derby since 2019, Guerrero wasn’t yet ready to commit to another. But he’s young, a near perennial All-Star and, perhaps most important, learned the art of surviving the gauntlet.

“We gave all we had. It’s not easy,” he says. “Some people think it is easy, but swinging hard for three minutes, it’s going to take a lot from you.

“Not just Julio and Randy – everybody who participated gave all they got to put on a show for everyone.”

Mission accomplished – this time with a trophy to go with his effort.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr. prevails to win Home Run Derby