People talk about five-tool players, those who can hit for average, hit for power, run, throw and field. But Vladimir Guerrero may be baseball's only six-tool player.

What is the sixth tool? His ability to excel while doing things that go against normal baseball thinking.

	Vladimir Guerrero set an Expos record with 28 RBI in April.

Guerrero is as talented as any player in baseball. He thrives in every area of the game and plays hard. He hits everything with power and bolts out of the batter's box on contact despite his big, 6-foot-3 frame. He will take out middle infielders on the double play. He is always looking to get an extra 90 feet on the basepaths. He is a smart defender with a cannon arm who positions himself well in right field.

But at the same time, Guerrero tries to do too much with his tremendous skills. With his great arm, he will try to throw everyone out, even when it's unnecessary. He may take a bad angle on a ball in the outfield. He has a tendency to chase bad pitches and get himself out.

Still, his undisciplined ways don't always hurt him. When the ball is hit to him in right field, teams won't try to run on him because he has the ability to pick a ball up on the warning track and throw a runner out at third base. And although he chases pitches out of the strike zone, he rarely misses them.

In a situation with a man on second and two outs, a team may choose to pitch to Guerrero instead of intentionally walking him because of his penchant for chasing bad pitches. But that's when he busts you.

During one game in 1998, when we were playing Montreal, Kevin Brown was pitching. He threw Guerrero everything he had. He threw a splitter, and Guerrero got a base hit. He threw a fastball, and Guerrero got a base hit. He threw him a slider, and he got another base hit.

Brownie was still pitching when Guerrero, now 3-for-3, came up for the fourth time. He tried to waste a pitch and threw a splitty. But Guerrero took it off his shoe top and hit it up the middle for another base hit. All you could say was, "Wow!" Guerrero is that good.

As a hitter, Guerrero is unpredictable. He's a good bad-ball hitter, but he can hit the good pitches too. In baseball lingo, he can take "bastard" pitches and still hit it -- and hit it hard. While an undisciplined approach may hurt other hitters, it has not affected Guerrero's batting average (lifetime .321), home runs or RBI.

Although he swings hard, he doesn't strike out much for a slugger (once every 7.7 at-bats). No matter who is pitching or how hard the pitcher throws, Guerrero has a unique ability to put the bat on the ball, whether he is taking a vicious hack or swinging under control.

At the same time, he also draws walks, a telltale sign that he is starting to gain knowledge of the game, the pitchers he faces and the teams in his division and what they are trying to do against him. He knows Jose Vidro is batting in front of him and Lee Stevens is behind him. He is not afraid to take a walk, steal a bag and get into scoring position.

If Guerrero played anywhere but Montreal, he would be huge. But I don't think he wants to be in the Barry Bonds-Ken Griffey Jr.-Alex Rodriguez stratosphere of superstars. Montreal seems to suit him fine. He doesn't have to deal with as much press. I know he understands and speaks English a little bit better than he did when he first came to the majors, but he doesn't seek the limelight. He just wants to play.

I have tried to have conversations with him at All-Star Games. Last year I asked him, "What is it you don't do?" And he just laughed.

Playing against him, you can see he loves to play. He gets excited on the field. As a hitter, he is old-fashioned; instead of wearing batting gloves, he uses a lot of pine tar and resin and just lets it rip.

Over the last five years, I'm sure Frank Robinson, Felipe Alou and Jeff Torborg have racked their brains at times, trying to get him to swing at strikes, hit the cutoff man or make a good throw. But Guerrero has proved his way works for him. There isn't one GM who wouldn't want him on his club.

Guerrero could be the next 40-40 man, or the first to achieve 50-50, if he chooses to be. He just needs to harness his unique abilities to do everything well -- and I mean everything. If the Expos are contracted after the season, he will be the first player taken in the dispersal draft.

Tony Gwynn, who will take over as the head baseball coach at San Diego State next year, is working as an analyst for ESPN.