Blue Jays First Baseman Starts Offseason With Successful Correction Surgery
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To say it was a down year for Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. would be an understatement; he posted career lows across the board in terms of production, never looking comfortable in the batter's box.
Might not be a fair term as he started hot with a .907 OPS in March and April, but after that it was ugly, highlighted by a .623 in May followed by a .558 OPS in August when his team was still firmly in control of their playoff destiny.
Time and time again, Vladdy lunged at balls way outside of the zone, and when he did get a meatball, middle-middle, it was nearly a guaranteed out or double play. Something was clearly, and very, off about him in 2026.
Yes, he was dealing with a bit of a persistent back issue, but that ultimately might not have been his problem, as the Laser Eye Center of Miami just announced that he had laser vision correction eye surgery and is healing well.
The center shared via Instagram: An elite hitter like Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. leaves nothing to chance, not even his vision. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is doing great at his post-op visit after laser vision correction with Dr. Gabriel Lazcano. Looking forward to an MVP year and lots of home runs with his new vision.
It sure looked like he wasn't seeing pitches very well, and maybe, just maybe, this will be the swing in the right direction that Guerrero Jr. needs, because make no mistake, the Blue Jays cannot be successful without him producing at the plate.
A Bad Year To Say the Least for Vladdy
The last time Guerrero hit a single-digit home run total was way back in 2020, when he only played in 60 games, so it seems safe to say this was the worst of his career, because even as a rookie, he smoked 15 home runs and drove in 69 runs.
In 2026, it is truly baffling the stat line he pieced together:
- 9 Home Runs
- 57 RBI
- 56 Drawn Walks
- .260/.352/.356
- .688 OPS
- 141 Hits (fewest since his rookie season, excluding 2020)
There wasn't a person in baseball who didn't know about the struggles that Toronto's offense was going through, and it directly coincided with Vladdy's performance. Heck, it wasn't until the final weeks of September that he finally hit a long shot at Rogers Centre.
It is honestly a sigh of relief that Guerrero was having some sort of issue with his eyes, because it at least somehow explains the demise seen at the plate. Hopefully, this solves a lot of the problems he was having, and he can come back monumentally in 2027.
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Maddy Dickens resides in Loveland, Colorado. She grew up with two older brothers, where their lives revolved around sports. She earned a master's degree in business management from Tarleton State University while simultaneously playing basketball and competing in rodeo at the collegiate level. She successfully parlayed a reserve national championship into a professional rodeo career and now stays involved in upper-level athletics by writing for On SI on several different MLB teams' pages, along with some NCAA sites.