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Because we’ve all been charmed by the iconic photo of an adorably chubby three-year-old Vladdy doffing his batting helmet — alongside his dad — in their matching Montreal Expos uniforms.

“I’ve been a man since 2018 because that’s when my first daughter was born,’’ says Guerrero, married father of three, who turned 25 last Sunday. “So I’ve been a family man since.’’

Still, we’ve all seen over these past five years the endlessly boyish Guerrero, playful in the dugout, affectionate with opposing players in the field — although not everybody approves of bearhugging with the enemy — face split with a grin as he circles the bases in his home run trot, dreadlocks bouncing. That bothers some people, even though there were downcast moments writ large on that mug last season, too.

Guerrero is at his best when he plays free, easy and natural as he did in his wondrous 2021 breakout season, racking up 48 home runs — with a whopping weighted runs created plus of 166 (100 is average) — when it felt like the bang-bang would never be quietened. It’s not like the swat has disappeared, with 32 and 26 round-trippers in subsequent seasons. But not Vladian as projected from his salad days as a major-leaguer. And the jolly was tempered.

“It never left me,’’ counters Guerrero of his high spirits. “I always feel relaxed and good and trying to have fun. But that being said, this is about the team. Last year we went through a lot of ups and downs and it affected me. Things weren’t working. Then I’m not going to enjoy it, I’m not going to have fun, it’s going to be hard for me, too. Because I know the team is going through struggles. But if we’re winning, I guarantee you’re going to see me having fun and being happy all the time.’’

The lightheartedness hasn’t grown leaden. But Guerrero is considerably removed from the buoyant teenager whose arrival in pc28����was so wildly celebrated, this , dawn of a new era. He’s no longer the phenomenon of ’21, runner-up to Shohei Ohtani for American League MVP. Those moments are starting to take on a sepia tint as one season of relative struggle — by the Guerrero yardstick — segued into another.

The big swat resurfaced only, and memorably, in the home-run derby that Guerrero crushed at the all-star festivities last summer. That was the Vlad we choose to freeze-frame.

In his juvenescent phase, with grandma in pc28����with him, slopping out the calorie-rich home cooking — future wife Nathalie was unable to get a resident visa at that time — Guerrero’s weight swelled worrisomely, well beyond rotund dimensions. This is the second spring where the slugger reported to camp slimmed down — with his endomorphic body build he’ll never be lean — and visibly toned, after putting in a winter of intense conditioning under a tough taskmaster trainer near his Tampa-area home. Via photos posted on social media, he actually seemed to enjoy that process.

But the business of baseball — becoming a serious person — has to some extent overlapped the joy of it, though Guerrero is still head over heels in love with the sport, despite it not loving him back so much in the last year or two. Not quite the way it used to; ardent, full of kisses.

It isn’t easy being the go-to guy, where much is expected and increasingly less is forgiven by a fan base — some anyway — that has evidently turned its back on Guerrero, making noises about “trade him while you can.’’ These are stupid people.

As the Blue Jays’ other go-to-guy, Bo Bichette, observes of Guerrero, with whom he’s been in career lockstep since their early minor-league days: “He has all the pressure in the world, all the expectation in the world, which is tough to manage. A big thing about this game is being in the moment and not worrying about what other people expect of you .’’

The frustration at moments of failure at the plate last season was palpable. Again, keeping perspective in mind: Guerrero still barrelled the ball (average 92.1 m.p.h. exit velocity) but the distance that ball travelled was weirdly shortened in 2023: averaging 403 feet, no better than 75th across baseball, not good enough for someone who boasts such power and torque. And probably that’s one explanation for why Guerrero’s numbers took a tumble — resonating smack off the bat but falling in for a single, or caught for an out. Too many balls hit on the ground rather than the air, including some of the hardest-hit groundouts in MLB history. Guerrero still ranks in the 91st percentile of exit velocity.

Guerrero, speaking (mostly) through interpreter Hector Lebron but clearly understanding everything said in English, insists he wasn’t consumed with frustration last year, that he’s got the rhythm hang of this game: “Baseball, it’s a lot of ups and downs. You’re going to have OK years, great years, as an individual, as a team. We didn’t have the year that we were expecting to have, but I never get frustrated. You just have to play better. That’s why I worked very hard in the off-season to get ready.’’

Well, that claim — that the stress rolled off his thickly muscled shoulders — is somewhat disputed by Guillermo Martinez, the Jays’ hitting coach and the one person Guerrero avows he most listens to, even as so many voices were in his head last season, including Uncle Wilton, who was more of an influence in Vlad’s baseball development than his own father, Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero, and made the trip from the Dominican Republic last May to help sort out Guerrero’s swing.

“For his standards, obviously we know that last year wasn’t the best,’’ says Martinez, who’s been fingered for some of the Guerrero tail-off, though he was also the hitting coach when all the stars aligned in ’21. “But it’s not the worst, either. Last year he put himself in a position where he was trying to do too much. With the expectations, mentally he put himself in that position where he’s trying to please a lot of people. There’s nothing wrong with that. But he’s only human. When you get guys trying to do more than they need to, to carry a team, chances are they’re going to start rolling over, they’re going to start chasing pitches, they’re going to start doing things that they normally don’t do.

“For example, in 2021 he didn’t worry about hitting 1.000 OPS, he didn’t worry about hitting 45 home runs. All he thought about was just getting a good pitch to hit and having fun. That’s what he’s trying to get back to, not necessarily trying to put up certain types of numbers. At times last year you could see his emotions taking over, and not the right emotions.’’

How to MAKE VLADDY GREAT AGAIN?

“Lay off anything out of the strike zone,’’ Martinez says bluntly. “He has the strength to chase, but we don’t want him to do that. You’re only as good as the pitch you swing at, everyone knows that.’’

The other voice Guillermo should heed is that of Don Mattingly, newly designated as the offensive co-ordinator. Donny Baseball — career .307 batting average — is a hitting savant.

“I didn’t think it was a bad last year,’’ Mattingly posits. “He’s worked on just being consistent with the mechanical side of it. Seeing him slowly understanding where he wants to go with the baseball, where he’s really trying to direct his energy. I put Vlad and Bo in the same box, that they cover a lot of parts of the zone and they can hit a lot of different areas with it. So, sometimes that guy’s swinging at a lot of different areas instead of shrinking it to a point where maybe you don’t hit them all but where you’re maybe doing your damage, in what areas of the plate, and how do you want to build your approach. To go with that instead of just hitting at everything.’’

Guerrero concurs: “It’s a valid criticism; I’m working on it.’’

Last year, Guerrero was missing at the edges of the plate and down and away, though his strikeout total actually came down from ‘22 and he had the highest contact rate of his career.

“Kind of a blessing and a curse,’’ Mattingly smiles. “Hitting a lot, sometimes it means you’re swinging a lot. From the standpoint of hitting in his counts, he needs to shrink the zone a little bit to hit what he wants to hit, not what the pitchers are willing to throw. We’ve talked to him about protecting himself, by swinging at good pitches to hit — not on the edges, especially not before two strikes. If he has to expand with two strikes, we’re OK with that, but not early in the count. When he gets good counts, he should be willing to hunt in his areas.’’

It should be noted that last season Guerrero played through nagging right knee and left wrist injuries, missing only minimal time. In the past two weeks he mashed his right middle finger and, upon returning to the lineup, immediately suffered a knee contusion making a sliding play in foul territory. Good health is always a gamble in sports. “I’m the kind of player that I feel I need to go out there regardless of how I feel,’’ says Guerrero.

Both Mattingly and Martinez like what they’ve seen so far:  with an OPS of 1.329 in Florida as of Friday morning. But it’s spring training, which doesn’t necessarily augur anything.

Before camp opened, Jays brass made the dubious decision to take their star first baseman/DH to arbitration over a measly $1.85 million (U.S.) difference of opinion. Guerrero was the victor, his $19.9 million for 2024 the highest arbitration salary ever awarded in a case decided by hearing. It was unwise for pc28����to annoy their superstar, though both sides claimed no hard feelings. “I’m good with it,’’ Guerrero shrugs.

Free agency two years hence looms for both Guerrero and Bichette, and will either elect to remain a Blue Jay if the club goes south, with suitors doubtlessly dangling gobs of money?

When Guerrero is asked what the club can do right now to make him a happy camper, he snorts: “New contract!’’

Then he skews more seriously: “I’m open, but it’s all business. Of course I want to stay here, I want to play here, in Toronto. Hopefully things will work out well for me to stay, but you’ll have to ask the front office.’’

Guerrero adds that he would be receptive to contract extension conversations through the rest of spring training, but no further palaver come opening day: “I wouldn’t want to have those conversations after because I want to focus on my season.’’ Which gives the Jays a deadline of under a week to put a great big forever-home gazillion-watt smile on Vladdy’s face.

You listening, Rogers?