Guerrero Lifts Himself, Poly to the Heights

SUN VALLEY — Juan Guerrero’s teammates and coaches at Poly High rarely call the senior slugger by his birth name.

Instead, they settled on two nicknames, neither of which do justice to his reputation as one of the region’s most feared hitters.

Guerrero was called “O-fer” early in his sophomore season because it was fun to pick on the new guy.

But when that name no longer applied, Guerrero’s teammates went back to calling him “Chivo,” a childhood nickname he inherited from his father.

Chivo means goat in Spanish.

“He’s no goat, that’s for sure,” Coach Chuck Schwal said. “Never the goat, always the hero.”

Guerrero’s two-out, two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to beat El Camino Real, 4-3, in a City Championship quarterfinal will forever be remembered by Schwal and anyone who witnessed it.

“I’ve never seen anything like that before,” Schwal said.

Guerrero, a 5-foot-7, 175-pound second baseman, was a clutch performer all season in leading Poly to the City Championship final. He will play for the East in the 23rd annual Bernie Milligan all-star baseball game at 1 p.m. Saturday at Stengel Field in Glendale.

Guerrero batted .462, scored 42 runs and led City players in the region with 48 hits and 49 runs batted in.

Nearly half of his hits went for extra bases--12 doubles, four triples and seven home runs.

If there were skeptics who believed Guerrero padded his statistics against inferior competition in the East Valley League, he answered them in the City final.

Facing left-hander Mike Kunes, the 1998 City player of the year, Guerrero doubled twice and drove in Poly’s first run in a 17-7 loss to Chatsworth at Dodger Stadium.

Guerrero has been a productive hitter since breaking into the lineup midway through his sophomore season.

One day he was delivering a clutch pinch hit, the next he was batting second and playing left field.

After batting .444 in 45 at-bats as a sophomore, Guerrero found his way into the weight room, hoping to build muscle in the off-season.

In his first full season as a starter playing second base and left field, Guerrero hit a respectable .350.

“It was sort of a down year,” he said.

Guerrero hit the weights again, more determined than ever.

“He didn’t just lift weights, he body-built,” Schwal said. “He likes the look, he likes the feeling. It gave him confidence.”

It also gave him a powerful swing.

“The jump he made from last year to this year was huge,” Schwal said. “He was a great hitter last year and the year before, but. . . I looked at him [as a senior] and thought, ‘Oh, my God. Are you even going to be able to swing the bat?’

“And then at batting practice, the ball just exploded off the bat.”

Guerrero increased his bench press 80 pounds to 305.

Schwal finally told Guerrero enough was enough, fearing he was getting too big to play second base.

So Guerrero went to work on improving his mental approach to hitting.

“I knew that this year was going to be different,” Guerrero said. “Pitchers already had a scouting report on me. I knew this year I wasn’t going to see a lot of fastballs on the first pitch and that I would have to wait for two or three pitches.”

Guerrero’s patience paid off.

“He was truly an amazing hitter this season,” Schwal said. “People make fun of our [league competition] and his stats, but he still had to do it. Those stats are legitimate.”

Schwal said Guerrero’s ability to go with the pitch was the key. The coach saw it every time he pitched batting practice.

“Wherever I put the ball, he would hit it,” Schwal said. “He adjusted very, very well at this level.”

Guerrero is more than ready for the college game. He is mulling over a scholarship offer from Cal State San Bernardino, but he might stay closer to home and play at a junior college.

Either way, his immediate plans are clear.

“I’m just trying to get back into the weight room and get ready for college,” said Guerrero, a quiet, low-key player who leads by example.

Said Schwal: “He commands respect just by being in the room. . . . I guess that helps when you bench press 300.”