What Type of Struggles Has Led to Utterly Poor Ranking of Blue Jays Pitching Staff?

The Toronto Blue Jays pitching staff is having a troubling season.

May 10, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Bowden Francis (44) pitches to the Seattle Mariners during the first inning at T-Mobile Park. | Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

The Toronto Blue Jays continue to flirt with being an above .500 team. While earlier in the year, they could claim that honor, they have since fallen below the mark, and it has been a struggle to fully climb out of the hole.

A big part of those struggles comes from how often the pitching staff has allowed home runs this year. Entering play on Friday, the Blue Jays have allowed 64 home runs across 43 games, the second most in MLB behind only the Baltimore Orioles. That is a rate of 1.49 home runs per game, and the staff is on pace to allow even more home runs than they did last year, when they gave up 1.28 per game.

It has been a struggle for the pitching staff to keep the ball in the yard, to say the least. Their poor performance in that area has brought down their performances as a whole, and in a recent article from Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report, the unit ranked 22nd in MLB.

Toronto Blue Jays Pitching Staff Ranks 22nd in MLB

"The Blue Jays have a WHIP that's better than league-average (1.30) and one of the best strikeout rates in the majors," writes Miller, "but they just cannot keep the ball in the yard—especially at home where they've allowed a staggering 37 home runs in 19 games played. Last year's breakout star, Bowden Francis, has already given up 12 home runs in his first eight starts."

Bowden Francis, 29, was expected to be a big piece of the rotation this year, after posting a 3.30 ERA across 103 2/3 innings in 27 games in 2024. Of those 27 games, only 13 were starts, but he performed much better as a starter than he did as a reliever.

In his 13 starts last year, Francis pitched to a 2.92 ERA across 77 innings. His struggles with giving up the long ball this year are nothing new, however, as even with the strong showing overall, he still allowed 17 home runs, 2.59 per nine innings.

His 12 home runs allowed this year are the most on the team, and third-most in MLB behind a two-way tie for first between Jameson Taillon of the Chicago Cubs and Zack Littell of the Tampa Bay Rays with 13, with each pitcher having one more start, and at least eight more innings than Francis.

The first quarter of the year has not been kind to Francis or the Toronto pitching staff as a whole. They are currently on pace to allow 241 home runs this year, 20 more than the Colorado Rockies allowed in 2024 with their Major League-leading 221.

If the team does not turn things around quickly, they may not be able to capitalize on the weak American League East this year.