Blue Jays Anthony Santander Suffering Concerning Drop in One Key Metric
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The Toronto Blue Jays had high hopes for their offense coming into the 2025 MLB regular season after some of the additions they made this past winter.
They acquired second baseman Andres Gimenez from the Cleveland Guardians in a trade and made a major splash in free agency, signing Anthony Santander away from the Baltimore Orioles.
Coming off a campaign in which he hit a career-high 44 home runs and knocked in 102 runs, the Blue Jays were ecstatic to add some punch to their lineup alongside first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., shortstop Bo Bichette and outfielders Daulton Varsho and George Springer.
Toronto paid him lavishly, agreeing to a five-year, $92.5 million contract that could be worth as much as $110 million over six years.
The team was taking a massive risk knowing Santander’s impact was limited outside of his power production. He wasn’t going to provide much value with his glove or as a base runner, meaning the team was paying him to hit.
Anthony Santander Has Struggled in Several Metrics With Blue Jays
But, given their struggles convincing free agents to come north of the border, the team had to pay a lot of money.
Unfortunately, they aren’t receiving any return on their investment in the early going.
Santander has been amongst the biggest free agent busts in 2025, failing to come close to his power output he had with the Orioles.
Through his first 178 plate appearances with the Blue Jays, he has hit only six home runs and five doubles, producing an underwhelming .315 slugging percentage. He has knocked in only 18 runs, providing little impact in the middle of the order.
A nagging injury has seemingly led to him adjusting his approach at the plate, which isn’t what the team had signed up for.
But, as Jared Greenspan of MLB.com shared, he has also experienced a concerning drop in a key metric with Toronto compared to what he was doing with Baltimore in 2024.
“His underlying metrics include a barrel rate (5.0%) that has suffered the third-largest decline from '24 to '25, among qualified hitters. With Santander struggling, Toronto's lineup lacks thump,” he wrote.
That is something to keep an eye on, since missing the barrel leads to softer contact and much tougher conditions to hit home runs.
While Santander’s barrel rate has seen a massive decline, it is far from the only metric that has dropped in 2025.
A Baseball Savant page that included several statistics above the league’s average is now full of numbers exclusively below average, many of which are concerningly low for a designated hitter in the first year of a long-term deal.
