Frank E said:
OK baseball guys, I have another question.
This was part of the Guerrero Jr. to 1st base article on sportsnet.ca:
Assuming he takes to first base, the Blue Jays should have stronger infield defence with Guerrero at first and Shaw at third, and with the season shortened, every small margin helps. In concert with the need to optimize his bat ? the thing that really matters ? making the move now makes sense.
What's his batting have to do with the position change?
I sort of think you're reading that wrong. I don't think they're saying that him moving positions will in and of itself optimize his hitting, although there are reasons it could help, I think it's saying that the Jays need to improve their defense as well as getting better offense from Guerrero so the move makes sense.
Keep in mind it's an article about how he's going to go from playing 3B to 1B
and DHing. If he sees a significant amount of time at DH he can worry less about defensive work generally and just focus on his hitting. Add in that Third is a more demanding position physically where he needs a lot more work than he would at 1st and there's reason to think moving defensively could help in his development as a hitter but I don't think that's really what they're stressing.