Toronto Blue Jays Pitching Prospect Brandon Barriera to Undergo Season-Ending Surgery

Brandon Barriera hasn't taken the mound in three weeks, and now the 20-year-old Blue Jays prospect is likely to miss the rest of 2024 with an elbow injury.

Jul 17, 2022; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Brandon Barriera reacts after he was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the MLB Draft. | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Toronto Blue Jays pitching prospect Brandon Barriera is set to undergo season-ending elbow surgery, TSN's Scott Mitchell reported Saturday afternoon.

Barriera last took the mound for Single-A Dunedin on April 6. He left that start early due to an arm injury and was placed on the 7-day injured list on April 9.

Mitchell's update comes just one day after the Blue Jays' No. 1 prospect, Ricky Tiedemann, was diagnosed with left ulnar nerve inflammation. Tiedemann will stop throwing for just 7-to-10 days, but the same cannot be said for Barriera.

It remains to be seen if Barriera will undergo Tommy John surgery or an internal brace procedure. Either way, though, he will be sidelined for at least the next 10 months.

The 20-year-old left-hander is ranked as the No. 4 prospect and No. 2 pitcher in the Blue Jays' farm system.

Good news on Ricky T yesterday, but unfortunately not so good on Brandon Barriera.
Hearing per a source that the #BlueJays 2022 first-rounder needs left elbow surgery.
They won’t know if it’s TJ or internal brace until surgery next week so no timeline, but it’s 10+ months.

— Scott Mitchell (@ScottyMitchTSN) April 27, 2024

Toronto selected Barriera in the first round of the 2022 MLB Draft, then gave him an above-slot $3.6 million signing bonus.

A shoulder injury kept Barriera off the mound for the first month of the 2023 minor league season, and an elbow injury knocked him out for another eight weeks. He went on to post a 3.98 ERA, 0.934 WHIP and 11.1 strikeouts per nine innings across seven starts in Rookie Ball and Single-A, up until a bicep injury ended his season prematurely in August.

Barriera allowed two earned runs in 1.1 innings of work in 2024 before he hurt his elbow again.

Tiedemann and Barriera are the Blue Jays' consensus top-two pitching prospects, while the rest of the top-eight players in their system are all batters.

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