3 Blue Jays players who will be better in 2025, 2 who won’t

There's no denying the Toronto Blue Jays had a disappointing season last year. Not only did they fail to reach the postseason for the first time in three years, they finished last American League East for the first time in over a decade.

For the Blue Jays to have any success in 2025, they will sorely need some of the players who underperformed last year to bounce back in a big way. With that in mind, let’s take a look at three Blue Jays players that will be better in 2025, along with two others who could continue to struggle.

3 Blue Jays players who will be better in 2025 

Kevin Gausman

Gausman has been the rock in Toronto's rotation since he joined the team; not only has he been consistent, he's also dominated the opposition with his devastating “Gausman” splitter.

However, the 12-year MLB veteran had a down year last year where he struggled for the first half before turning it around during the second half. At one point in time, Gausman’s ERA was close to five following a disastrous seven-run outing against the New York Yankees at the end of June.

That being said, Gausman had a 2.90 ERA and 1.10 WHIP of the final three months of the season to help pushing his ERA down to its final mark of 3.83. While that's still a solid number, it was the highest ERA he's posted in over five seasons.

Some of his struggles last year can be chalked up to a right shoulder injury he suffered during Spring Training that he admitted to rushing back from.

Bo Bichette

Bichette had a nightmarish 2024 season that he most certainly would like to forget after he up posted the worst numbers of his career. In 81 games played, Bichette compiled a dismal .225 batting average and .598 OPS, along with just 29 runs scored, 16 doubles, four home runs and 31 RBI.

His disappointing performance was the last thing the Jays expected after Bichette led the American League in hits in 2022 and 2023.

Perhpahs the biggest reason for his struggles last year was that he was plagued with various injury woes. He had a lingering calf issue that hindered his play for most of last season before he went down with a broke right middle finger that required surgery.

Add in the numerous trade rumors around his name, and it suddenly makes sense as to why last year was so tough.

Now back to full health and entering his walk year, there’s no doubt Bichette will look to bounce back and be better that he was last year in the hopes of landing his next big contract.

Alejandro Kirk

Like Bichette, Kirk struggled for most of last year. But, unlike Bichette, those struggles are part of a multi-season dip, as the 26-year-old catcher hasn’t been the same since his All-Star campaign in 2022. That season, Kirk put up his best offensive numbers of his career, amassing a .285 average and .786 OPS, along with 14 home runs and 63 RBI en route to a Silver Slugger win.

Kirk has failed to reproduce any of those offensive numbers ever since that break-through season, however. He's had an OPS below .700 in each of the past two seasons to go along with single-digit home run totals.

In addition, Kirk’s strikeout rate increased to over 13% last year while his walk rate fell to about 9%. For someone that has been known for his great plate discipline throughout his career, that's a worrisome trend.

But perhaps splitting time with Danny Jansen had a lot to do with it since there was an encouraging uptick in Kirk’s performance after Jansen was traded away last year. In his final 44 games of the season, Kirk hit .269 with a .739 OPS, along with 10 doubles, three home runs and 28 RBI. Those stats would average out to 37 doubles, 11 home runs and a whopping 103 RBI when drawn out to a 162 game schedule.  

Kirk is Toronto's clear-cut starter at catcher this season, and the last time that was the case in 2022 he ended up being an All-Star.

2 Blue Jays players who will stay the same in 2025

George Springer

George Springer still stands stop the record books for the Blue Jays, as his six-year, $150 million contract is still the longest in team history.

As a prolific leadoff hitter with his elite combination of speed and power, Springer was brought into Toronto to be a veteran leader for the next generation of Blue Jays. And at first he did exactly that by helping lead Toronto to two consecutive postseason berths in 2022 and '23.

However, despite the semi-success with the team as a whole, Springer has struggled over the past couple of seasons. After hitting .267 with 25 home runs and 76 RBI in 2022, he finished last year with a measly .220 average and 56 RBI.

Some may point to the fact that Father Time may be starting to catch up to him. But just looking back, Springer hasn’t appeared to be the same since sustaining the fateful concussion in a collision with Bichette during the AL Wild Card Series game against the Seattle Mariners in 2022.

At age 35, Springer won't be getting better any time soon considering the wear and tear on his body after over 1,300 career MLB games. He's no longer the guy who will aveage .260 with 30+ home runs and 80+ RBI. Nevertheless, Springer could still provide some decent production as more of a .240 hitter with 20+ home runs and 60+ RBI worth going forward so long as the team is smart about managing his health.

Davis Schneider

It sure has been a whirlwind of an MLB career so far for Schneider. It wasn’t that long ago that he had one of the best debuts in major league history in 2023. He ended up finishing the year with a .276 batting average with an elite 1.008 OPS, along with eight home runs and 20 RBI in just 35 games played.

However, things took a step back last year.

At first he started the the year out strong with with seven home runs and 29 RBI over the first two months of the season, which led to him getting some looks at leadoff.

Unfortunately, things went south after that. From June onwards, Schneider compiled an abysmal .159 average and .499 OPS across his final 86 games, which led to him losing some playing time as the season went on. Opposing pitchers have clearly found a way to neutralize Schneider, and he appears to have yet to make the right adjustments.

So until Schneider finds a way to adjust his hitting mechanics to effectively combat major league pitching, we could be expecting more of the same from him going forward.

At the same time, we have also seen the rapid rise of prospects in the organization such as Will Wagner, Leo Jiménez, and to some extent, Orelvis Martínez. Together with the key offseason additions in Anthony Santander through free agency and Andrés Giménez via trade Schneider could be on the outside looking in this season.