Report: Blue Jays’ prospect Brandon Barriera to miss rest of the 2025 season with ulna fracture
Photo credit: © Jayne Kamin-Oncea - USA Today
Aug 7, 2025, 17:30 EDTUpdated: Aug 7, 2025, 17:22 EDT
There’s some more bad news on the starting pitching prospect front for the Toronto Blue Jays.
In a recent article written for Sportsnet, Shi Davidi reported that 2022 first-round pick Brandon Barriera suffered a “mini-fracture” in his ulna (forearm bone), ending his season.
Selected in the first round of the 2022 draft with the 23rd overall pick, Barriera has had awful luck since becoming a professional. Since making his debut in 2023, Barriera has pitched just 27.1 innings in three seasons. His 2023 season saw him pitch 20.1 innings, but was derailed due to a shoulder and elbow injury.
Returning to action in 2024 and in much better shape, the left-handed pitcher pitched just an inning and a third before leaving the game. It turned out that Barriera needed the internal brace version of Tommy John, ending his 2024 season.
Barriera made his 2025 season debut in early June, pitching two scoreless innings in a rehab assignment. His next three starts didn’t go nearly as well, giving up nine earned runs in just an inning and two-thirds, but his final start on July 3 went well, pitching two scoreless innings. That will be the last time he’ll pitch in 2025, as the news that he’ll miss the rest of the season came on Thursday.
The 2022 draft class is an interesting one. Barriera’s career is far from over, but he’s lost so much development time in the past few seasons. Second-rounder Josh Kasevich has spent the majority of the season injured, but is now on his third rehab assignment in the lower minors.
Drafted after the second round with a compensation pick, Cade Doughty has finally started to get going in Double-A, as he’s slashing .323/.381/.414 with a home run in 114 plate appearances since the start of July. Selected immediately before Doughty, also with a compensation pick, was Tucker Toman, who is slashing .284/.372/.414 with four home runs in 188 plate appearances since the start of June.
Although none of these four prospects have quite found their potential, there’s still plenty of talent in the latter rounds of the draft. Third-rounder Alan Roden and fifth-rounder Mason Fluharty are both big leaguers. Ryan Jennings, T.J. Brock, Devereaux Harrison, Pat Gallagher, Nolan Perry, Bo Bonds, and Gage Stanifer all have the potential to be big leaguers. Some players, namely Brock, Jennings, Gallagher, and Bonds, profile to be relievers.
Perry was on MLB Pipeline’s top 30 list for the Blue Jays at one point, while Stanifer currently ranks as their fifth-best prospect.
Hopefully, once Barriera returns, he can stay healthy.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.