Vladimir Guerrero Jr. becomes third fastest Blue Jays' hitter to reach this milestone

At 8-13 with a -26 run differential, the Toronto Blue Jays are deep in the cellar of the AL East. Their anemic, injured offense has only mustered 83 runs, third-worst in the American League and ahead of only the Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals.

In other words, it's been hard to find silver linings this year. However, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. provided one over the weekend, becoming the third-fastest player in franchise history to record 600 regular season RBIs.

That's some impressive company, and also a reminder of how absurdly good Carlos Delgado was early in his career. He had 100+ RBIs in six straight seasons and 90+ in nine straight from 1996-2004.

Guerrero's been doing his best to lift this offense out of the mud, leading the team with a 149 wRC+ and .864 OPS. Still, even he can't make up for the lack of depth in this Blue Jays' lineup, which could make future RBI opportunities harder to come by.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. can't carry the Blue Jays' offense on all his own

Guerrero currently has 10 RBIs this season, which puts him on pace for roughly 77 across the whole year. That would be his lowest total in a full season since his rookie campaign in 2019.

Such is life when the team you play for ranks 18th in on-base percentage (.318). And even that figure is inflated, since Guerrero's team-leading mark of .429 is by far the highest of any healthy regular on the Blue Jays.

We all know how good the 27-year-old first baseman is, and there will be spurts where he can put this team on his back. But no one can single-handedly change the fortunes of a struggling team in baseball, including one of the best pure hitters in the sport.

Things should get better when three of the most important hitters in the lineup -- George Springer, Alejandro Kirk, and Addison Barger -- all return from the injured list. What we're seeing right now is the price of attrition, as the team is missing three of their four best players from 2025 in terms of on-base percentage: Springer, Kirk, and Bo Bichette. Guerrero, of course, is the fourth.

This recent milestone is a testament to the prevailing greatness of Vladdy, despite the struggles of the overall product on the field. Hopefully, as the team gets healthier, his chase for various franchise history landmarks won't be the only headlines worth writing about the Blue Jays.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow