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Andrés Giménez’ hot start couldn’t stop him from being a below league-average hitter in 2026
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Photo credit: © Chris Jones-Imagn Images
Cynthia Ryley Delaney
Nov 2, 2026, 16:15 ESTUpdated: Nov 2, 2026, 16:16 EST
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It wasn’t the best season for Andrés Giménez.
As we move further away from the 2022 season, it’s becoming clear that the season was an outlier for Giménez’ bat and he’s just a below-average league hitter. Still, the Toronto Blue Jays’ shortstop provides a bunch of value for the team, specifically with his glove.
Let’s take a look at Giménez’ 2026 season.

Andrés Giménez’ 2026 season

Giménez earned MVP votes in 2022 thanks to a terrific season with the bat. Over 146 games with the Cleveland Guardians, he slashed .297/.371/.466 with 17 home runs in 557 plate appearances, good for a 141 wRC+. That season was paired with his first of three consecutive Gold Gloves at second base.
Since then, he’s been looking to reach that level. He was nearly a league-average hitter in 2023, slashing .251/.314/.399 with 16 home runs in 616 plate appearances, good for a 96 wRC+. He also won his lone Platinum Glove that season.
Giménez hasn’t posted a wRC+ above 85 since 2023. In his final season with the Guardians, he finished with an 82 wRC+. In 2025, Giménez had a strong start but ended the season slashing just .210/.285/.313 with seven home runs, spending two stints on the injured list.
The 28-year-old hit some big home runs in 2025, including a three-run shot off Max Fried on Canada Day, as well as a pair of home runs in the American League Championship Series, but it wasn’t a great season as a whole.
That brings us to the 2026 season.
Like the year before, Giménez got off to a great start. In the first month of the season, the shortstop slashed .287/.313/.468 with three home runs in 100 plate appearances, good for a 116 wRC+. 
However, from April 28th until the end of the season, Giménez slashed just .233/.285/.332 with six home runs in 408 plate appearances, good for a 72 wRC+. As a whole, he slashed .244/.291/.359 with nine home runs in 508 plate appearances for an 81 wRC+.
Despite the well-below-average bat in 2026, Giménez was a clutch hitter for the Blue Jays. Over his 508 plate appearances, his 59 RBIs ranked second on the team, only behind Kazuma Okamoto’s 92 RBIs. In high-leverage scenarios, Giménez slashed .311/.33/.533 with two home runs in 52 plate appearances, good for a 128 wRC+.
But what Giménez is getting paid for is his defence. The good news is that his glove transitioned well to shortstop, as he finished with 2 Defensive Runs Saved, 19 Outs Above Average, and 16 Fielding Run Value in 1,179 innings at the position. For the fifth consecutive season, Giménez was named a Gold Glove finalist, though he lost to Taylor Walls.
Ideally, Giménez finds a way to become a league-average bat over these next few seasons. In 2027, the shortstop’s payroll will jump from $15 million to a little under $23.6 million. The defence is great, and it’s clear he’ll never hit like he did in 2022, but the Jays need some more production out of his bat if they’re paying him that much.
Cynthia Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, DFOEdmonton, and DFOCalgary. She can be followed on Twitter @CynthiaRDelaney.
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