Blue Jays Offensive Woes Can Be Tied to Abysmal Performance in One Key Area
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Things have been a struggle for the Toronto Blue Jays offensively throughout the 2025 MLB regular season.
There are only two starters, first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and right fielder George Springer, who have OPS+ numbers above the league average of 100. Dalton Varsho is in triple digits as well, but has played in only six games since returning from injury.
A power outage from shortstop Bo Bichette and a painfully slow start for their major free agent addition, Anthony Santander, highlight the individual shortcomings.
If they can find their way and return to previous levels of offensive production, it would help immensely.
As a team, there is one area that they have performed to embarrassing levels thus far in the campaign.
Why Have The Blue Jays Struggled So Much Offensively?
Conventional wisdom for pitchers is to avoid the middle of the plate. Work the edges and get your opponent to chase offerings that are outside of the zone, either whiffing or inducing soft contact while avoiding the barrel of the bat.
Such a game plan isn’t necessary against the Blue Jays at this point because they cannot do damage with strikes.
The best strategy for opponents right now is to groove pitches right down the middle of the plate because Toronto isn’t going to take advantage.
As shared by Eno Sarris of The Athletic (subscription required), the Blue Jays have the worst OPS when facing pitches down the heart of the plate, with a .686. The Pittsburgh Pirates are the second worst with a .694.
Toronto is also whiffing on 14.10% of pitches right down the pipe.
Santander and Andres Gimenez, their other major addition in a trade with the Cleveland Guardians, are both slugging under .400 against pitches down the heart of the plate.
Some positive regression is certainly possible, and some of the blame certainly is on the players for not performing up to par. But this is a team that needs a complete overhaul when it comes to their plan of attack at the plate, which comes down to coaching.
“Somehow this team is swinging at balls outside the zone at the fourth-worst rate, too. The approach needs to change for the Blue Jays’ hitters,” Sarris wrote.
A team that cannot hit good pitches and is swinging at even worse ones too frequently; that is a brutal combination leading to abysmal offensive numbers.
If they can start taking advantage of mistakes from pitchers, the offensive output will improve.
Alas, it is hard to imagine things getting too much better with a sizable sample size saying they aren’t capable without some sort of shakeup.
