5 Blue Jays that need to step up soon to avoid being trade deadline sellers

Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Speaking of Guerrero, there’s no doubt that we need to also include him as a part of this group. Following his MVP-calibre season back in 2021, the bar inadvertently has been set quite high for Guerrero. That was because his noteworthy performance has put him among the elite in the league, with the likes of Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani. However, in doing so, he will forever be compared to that year for the foreseeable future.

After a couple of so-called down seasons for Guerrero since then, 2024 has not been friendly to him either as he has suffered a considerable power outage to date. Despite still hitting for a respectable average, he has put up just 7 home runs and 30 RBI in 74 games so far this year. That would put him on pace for just 15 home runs and 66 RBI, which would be his lowest output for a full 162-game season since his rookie year back in 2019.

But at least among the big three, Guerrero has struggled the least in terms of actual hitting, as he currently sports a .278 average and .759 OPS. However, he has hit a funk once again in recent weeks, batting just .211 with a home run and 3 RBI in his last 15 games. Nevertheless, as the true leader of the team, he should take on the burden to help carry the team on his shoulders and bring them back into contention by leading by example. For being one of the faces of the franchise, his time to shine is now, before he becomes part of the trade talk at the deadline himself.