Blue Jays prospect Brandon Barriera left Single-A game with apparent injury
Photo credit: © Nathan Ray Seebeck - Imagn Images
May 13, 2026, 18:30 EDTUpdated: May 13, 2026, 18:24 EDT
There’s some more bad news on the injury front for Toronto Blue Jays pitching prospect Brandon Barriera.
The left-handed pitcher departed Wednesday evening’s Dunedin Blue Jays game with an apparent injury after delivering a pitch in the bottom of the third inning. As of now, it’s unclear what the injury is or the severity of it.
Drafted 23rd overall in the 2022 draft, Barriera has had a string of injuries since turning professional. The lefty was limited to just 20 and one-third innings pitched in 2023, missing time with both a shoulder and elbow injury. In his first outing of the 2024 season, Barriera was pulled after spiking a ball in the dirt and later required Tommy John surgery.
The 22-year-old lefty missed the remainder of the 2024 season, returning in June of 2025. However, he was once again injured in July after appearing in five games, missing the remainder of the season due to a broken ulna.
With all the injuries, the development has been slow-going at best. The left-handed pitcher hasn’t pitched above Single-A, and has never pitched more than 20.1 innings in a season. Between 2024 and 2025, Barriera threw just seven innings.
Barriera return to action to begin the 2026 season, entering Wednesday’s game with a 6.28 ERA and 5.77 FIP. He had a significant number of innings under his belt in 2026, getting through 17 innings before being pulled. Barriera has struck out 15 of the 91 batters he faced (16.5 K%), but amassed 12 walks in that span.
Hopefully, it’s not a serious injury, because what Barriera needs at this point for his development is to stay healthy and throw innings. When he’s on, the left-handed pitcher can average in the mid-90s with a sharp slider, but he just hasn’t been able to showcase that since being drafted.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
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