Another tough break for Blue Jays' prospect just as he was getting back on track

The pro-baseball career of a former first round draft pick is not going the way anyone envisioned. Toronto Blue Jays' prospect Brandon Barriera has hit the Injured List, again. On Saturday (May 16), Barriera was officially put on the seven-day, minor league IL after he left a start early on May 13.

In the third inning of that game while pitching for the Blue Jays' Single-A affiliate in Dunedin, Barriera appeared to tweak his back or his side on what was his 49th pitch of the night. Barriera was visibly frustrated and after knowing his history it's hard to blame him.

Taken with the No. 23 overall pick, Barriera was expected to be, at this point, making some sort of an impact with the big league club. Instead, the Blue Jays have had to watch Barriera restart from scratch over and over again.

Barriera has spent more time recovering than progressing since being drafted

When the Blue Jays originally drafted and signed Barriera to a $3.5 million signing bonus, the buzz around him was real. But thanks to a barrage of injuries, including Tommy John Surgery in 2024, Barriera had thrown less than 30 innings of professional baseball coming into 2026.

Looking to use this year as budling block, Barriera and the Blue Jays were optimistic that the 22-year-old could regain what made him so tantalizing four years earlier. And when Spring Training began, Barrier was touching 98 mph with his fastball on the back fields in Dunedin. That was enough to get him into game action and begin, what was going to hopefully be a full season of pitching for Barriera in Single-A, and maybe even moving up a level or two if his stuff held up.

His first 17 innings brought a mixed bag. While the goal was to bring him up slowly, he wasn't seeing the best results out of the gate. Through his first three starts, he pitched 7.2 innings, getting into the third inning twice, but allowing nine hits and six walks with four strikeouts. Then over his next three starts he had two very encouraging outings.

On Apr. 25 he allowed two hits, one walk and struck out four of the 10 batters he faced. The next outing on May 1, he gave up four earned runs, walked three and struck out none. He bounced back on May 7 with his best outing yet, a three inning, three hit, four strikeout performance that gave all the vibes of being the jumping off point for Barriera. This was what the Blue Jays were hoping to see out of him. This is the guy they believed they could get if he could just stay healthy.

And it seemed like things were going exactly that way as he pitched against the New York Yankees Single-A squad on Wednesday he had kept them to two hits, while striking out three through the first 2.2 innings. That's when the injury flared up and Barriera was removed from the game. On one hand, it could be looked at as a positive sign that at least this isn't an issue with his arm. Barriera was finally on the right track and if he can recover quickly from this latest pause in his development, and continue to build up, he could be in play for a potential big league job by as early as next season.

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