<p>24 games into the season, Andrés Giménez leads the Toronto Blue Jays in home runs. Almost 15 percent of the way through the schedule, the guy whom the Blue Jays brought in for his glove has supplied almost a quarter of the team&#8217;s home run total.</p>
<p>After clubbing three home runs in his first five games of the season, Giménez hasn&#8217;t gone yard in his last 18 games, yet still leads the team. As a player who averaged 64.8 at-bats per home run last season, it&#8217;s not that surprising that his power has dried up. But here&#8217;s the scary part: the Blue Jays as a team this season are averaging 61.5 at-bats per home run.</p>
<div class="bam-inline-promotion" data-property-id="330" data-promotion-id="18983" data-context="“web-content-promocard&quot;"></div>
<p>This year&#8217;s Blue Jays team is performing like a whole one-through-nine lineup of Giménez&#8217;s from 2024. Their power numbers are atrocious. 13 home runs as a team, which is second-worst in MLB. A 6.3% extra-base hit percentage, which is fifth-worst in baseball.</p>
<h2>A lack of power in Toronto&#8217;s lineup</h2>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 144pt;" border="0" width="192" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 14.5pt;">
<td width="64" height="19"><strong>Stat</strong></td>
<td width="64"><strong>Value</strong></td>
<td width="64"><strong>MLB Rank</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 14.5pt;">
<td height="19">XBH%</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">6.30%</td>
<td>26th</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 14.5pt;">
<td height="19">X/H%</td>
<td class="xl64" align="right">29%</td>
<td>29th</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 14.5pt;">
<td height="19">AB/HR</td>
<td align="right">61.5</td>
<td>29th</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>Only 29% of the Blue Jays&#8217; hits this season have gone for extra bases, which is the second worst in MLB. Blue Jays manager John Schneider says the offense will turn things around, but in the meantime, there&#8217;s another concerning part about the Blue Jays, which <a href="https://x.com/TJStats/status/1914698273811554399">Thomas Nestico</a> picked up on with this telling graph.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">MLB Team HR allowed vs Team HR For <a href="https://t.co/eEhLFwi6Tu">pic.twitter.com/eEhLFwi6Tu</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Thomas Nestico (@TJStats) <a href="https://twitter.com/TJStats/status/1914698273811554399?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 22, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Most people already knew the Blue Jays have shown a severe lack of power from their starting lineup, but their pitching staff has failed to keep the ball in the yard at an alarming rate. For any team trying to win ball games, that&#8217;s a deadly combination.</p>
<p>Heading into Tuesday&#8217;s game against the Houston Astros, the Blue Jays have surrendered the second-most home runs in MLB. That was before Yariel Rodriguez added to the tally to make 32 given up by Blue Jays pitchers (22 by starting pitchers, 10 by the bullpen).</p>
<p>Of those two sides of the coin, the pitching side is the lesser of two evils. José Berríos is homer-prone, and that&#8217;s just the way he is. Bowden Francis has given up five home runs, and Kevin Gausman has given up four, but they&#8217;ve mostly been cheapie solo home runs, so they&#8217;ve minimized that damage. Easton&#8217;s Lucas&#8217;s five home runs were to be expected because he was probably going to turn back into a pumpkin at some point.</p>
<p>Despite opponents going yard against Chad Green three times this season already, the bullpen is teetering between the middle-third and bottom-third of baseball in HR/9 at 1.05. Last year, the Blue Jays&#8217; bullpen was dead last in that regard with a 1.46 HR/9, so this year&#8217;s club is already miles ahead of where they were in 2024.</p>
<p>Of the two (hitting and pitching), there is reason to believe the pitching will even itself out throughout a full slate. Save for the number five starter spot, Toronto&#8217;s starting rotation has held up its end of the bargain (the starting rotation has a 38% quality start rate), and the bullpen has been league average.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">HELLO FROM THE OTHER SIDE 😈 </p>
<p>Santander&#39;s FIRST homer as a Blue Jay! <a href="https://t.co/tIZaTGQJBC">pic.twitter.com/tIZaTGQJBC</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) <a href="https://twitter.com/BlueJays/status/1911159870415339536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 12, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>But this total lack of power from Toronto&#8217;s lineup is the much bigger concern. Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Anthony Santander will reach double-digit home runs. But 20-some-odd homers from guys like Guerrero and Santander won&#8217;t be enough to sustain this club over a full schedule.</p>
<p>The team isn&#8217;t hitting for power, but we saw through the first few weeks that the secondary players generated most of the Blue Jays&#8217; offence. Giménez, George Springer, heck, even Tyler Heineman have chipped in to contribute big hits for this team thus far. But they have yet to see the big boys deliver at the top of the lineup in a meaningful and decisive way.</p>
<p>When you&#8217;re a team like the Blue Jays, who don&#8217;t have a litany of grip it and rip it hitters from the five hole in the lineup and down, you&#8217;re going to rely on a lot of singles and doubles to scratch runs across the board. As fun as it was to watch them walk the tightrope these first few weeks of the season, eking across a 2-1 or 3-2 win night after night isn&#8217;t a sustained formula for success in the American League East.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s impossible not to look up at the New York Yankees — the team that is averaging a home run every 19.5 at-bats — and be envious of their home run generating powers. The Yankees have six hitters with four or more home runs. The Blue Jays have zero.</p>
<p>The Blue Jays&#8217; playoff aspirations were always going to hinge on the big three at the top of the order: Bichette, Guerrero Jr. and Santander. Springer&#8217;s resurgence has been a pleasant surprise, Myles Straw has even contributed, but that top third of the lineup needs to produce for this team to have a fighting chance.</p>
<p>Again, stringing together singles is not a problem for the 2025 Blue Jays. They&#8217;re fine to fill in the gaps when you&#8217;re facing a tough pitcher or in a bit of a funk, but several Blue Jays hitters are suffering a prolonged hitting slump right now. Considering this team&#8217;s absence of extra base power so far this season, it&#8217;s a miracle they have a 12-12 record.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">The big boy is back.</p>
<p>Vladimir Guerrero Jr.&#39;s first home run of 2025: <a href="https://t.co/fequ2WJ23V">pic.twitter.com/fequ2WJ23V</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Keegan Matheson (@KeeganMatheson) <a href="https://twitter.com/KeeganMatheson/status/1912579790709879104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Some of these bats are bound to turn around. The marquee names are too good to have this power outage stretch into another full month of the season. But until the Blue Jays&#8217; bats wake up and rediscover their power, their pitching staff will have to walk the tightrope night after night.</p>
<hr />
<div class="bam-inline-promotion" data-property-id="324" data-promotion-id="18983" data-context="web-content-promocard"></div>


24 games into the season, Andrés Giménez leads the Toronto Blue Jays in home runs. Almost 15 percent of the way through the schedule, the guy whom the Blue Jays brought in for his glove has supplied almost a quarter of the team's home run total.

After clubbing three home runs in his first five games of the season, Giménez hasn't gone yard in his last 18 games, yet still leads the team. As a player who averaged 64.8 at-bats per home run last season, it's not that surprising that his power has dried up. But here's the scary part: the Blue Jays as a team this season are averaging 61.5 at-bats per home run.
<div class="bam-inline-promotion" data-property-id="330" data-promotion-id="18983" data-context="“web-content-promocard&quot;"></div>
This year's Blue Jays team is performing like a whole one-through-nine lineup of Giménez's from 2024. Their power numbers are atrocious. 13 home runs as a team, which is second-worst in MLB. A 6.3% extra-base hit percentage, which is fifth-worst in baseball.
<h2>A lack of power in Toronto's lineup</h2>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 144pt;" border="0" width="192" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 14.5pt;">
<td width="64" height="19"><strong>Stat</strong></td>
<td width="64"><strong>Value</strong></td>
<td width="64"><strong>MLB Rank</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 14.5pt;">
<td height="19">XBH%</td>
<td class="xl63" align="right">6.30%</td>
<td>26th</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 14.5pt;">
<td height="19">X/H%</td>
<td class="xl64" align="right">29%</td>
<td>29th</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 14.5pt;">
<td height="19">AB/HR</td>
<td align="right">61.5</td>
<td>29th</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Only 29% of the Blue Jays' hits this season have gone for extra bases, which is the second worst in MLB. Blue Jays manager John Schneider says the offense will turn things around, but in the meantime, there's another concerning part about the Blue Jays, which <a href="https://x.com/TJStats/status/1914698273811554399">Thomas Nestico</a> picked up on with this telling graph.

https://twitter.com/TJStats/status/1914698273811554399

Most people already knew the Blue Jays have shown a severe lack of power from their starting lineup, but their pitching staff has failed to keep the ball in the yard at an alarming rate. For any team trying to win ball games, that's a deadly combination.

Heading into Tuesday's game against the Houston Astros, the Blue Jays have surrendered the second-most home runs in MLB. That was before Yariel Rodriguez added to the tally to make 32 given up by Blue Jays pitchers (22 by starting pitchers, 10 by the bullpen).

Of those two sides of the coin, the pitching side is the lesser of two evils. José Berríos is homer-prone, and that's just the way he is. Bowden Francis has given up five home runs, and Kevin Gausman has given up four, but they've mostly been cheapie solo home runs, so they've minimized that damage. Easton's Lucas's five home runs were to be expected because he was probably going to turn back into a pumpkin at some point.

Despite opponents going yard against Chad Green three times this season already, the bullpen is teetering between the middle-third and bottom-third of baseball in HR/9 at 1.05. Last year, the Blue Jays' bullpen was dead last in that regard with a 1.46 HR/9, so this year's club is already miles ahead of where they were in 2024.

Of the two (hitting and pitching), there is reason to believe the pitching will even itself out throughout a full slate. Save for the number five starter spot, Toronto's starting rotation has held up its end of the bargain (the starting rotation has a 38% quality start rate), and the bullpen has been league average.

https://twitter.com/BlueJays/status/1911159870415339536

But this total lack of power from Toronto's lineup is the much bigger concern. Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Anthony Santander will reach double-digit home runs. But 20-some-odd homers from guys like Guerrero and Santander won't be enough to sustain this club over a full schedule.

The team isn't hitting for power, but we saw through the first few weeks that the secondary players generated most of the Blue Jays' offence. Giménez, George Springer, heck, even Tyler Heineman have chipped in to contribute big hits for this team thus far. But they have yet to see the big boys deliver at the top of the lineup in a meaningful and decisive way.

When you're a team like the Blue Jays, who don't have a litany of grip it and rip it hitters from the five hole in the lineup and down, you're going to rely on a lot of singles and doubles to scratch runs across the board. As fun as it was to watch them walk the tightrope these first few weeks of the season, eking across a 2-1 or 3-2 win night after night isn't a sustained formula for success in the American League East.

It's impossible not to look up at the New York Yankees — the team that is averaging a home run every 19.5 at-bats — and be envious of their home run generating powers. The Yankees have six hitters with four or more home runs. The Blue Jays have zero.

The Blue Jays' playoff aspirations were always going to hinge on the big three at the top of the order: Bichette, Guerrero Jr. and Santander. Springer's resurgence has been a pleasant surprise, Myles Straw has even contributed, but that top third of the lineup needs to produce for this team to have a fighting chance.

Again, stringing together singles is not a problem for the 2025 Blue Jays. They're fine to fill in the gaps when you're facing a tough pitcher or in a bit of a funk, but several Blue Jays hitters are suffering a prolonged hitting slump right now. Considering this team's absence of extra base power so far this season, it's a miracle they have a 12-12 record.

https://twitter.com/KeeganMatheson/status/1912579790709879104

Some of these bats are bound to turn around. The marquee names are too good to have this power outage stretch into another full month of the season. But until the Blue Jays' bats wake up and rediscover their power, their pitching staff will have to walk the tightrope night after night.

<hr />

<div class="bam-inline-promotion" data-property-id="324" data-promotion-id="18983" data-context="web-content-promocard"></div>

The Blue Jays have a home run problem this season

Recent articles from Ian Hunter

Breaking News