Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s home power outage is becoming impossible to ignore

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Toronto Blue Jays just wrapped up a disappointing homestand that started with a series win over the Baltimore Orioles, then ended with series losses at the hands of the Philadelphia Phillies and the division-rival New York Yankees. 

The Blue Jays’ offence let them down on several occasions over the nine games as they continued to strand runners in scoring position. At the heart of their offensive woes is Guerrero himself, who sat out the final two against the Yankees due to back tightness. 

Guerrero still hasn’t hit a home run in Toronto in the 2026 season. He hasn’t hit a home run anywhere since May 17th. The season will be halfway done when the Blue Jays return home on June 22nd—this extended power outage is downright unacceptable. 

There’s no avoiding it any longer: the Blue Jays have a Vladdy problem.

Should the Blue Jays bat Guerrero lower in the lineup?

It’s been an embarrassing showing from the $500-million-man thus far. He came into the year with sky-high expectations after setting the baseball world ablaze during the postseason last fall, yet he has seemingly crumbled under the pressure of carrying the team. 

Guerrero is one of the highest paid players in baseball yet has hit half as many home runs as Andrés Giménez, who owns a career .379 slugging percentage through his seven MLB seasons. He ranks behind several players on the team leaderboard who weren’t even on the Opening Day roster. 

There is no easy solution to this problem until Guerrero works through whatever mechanical and mental issues have neutered his power stroke. In the meantime, however, the Blue Jays may need to consider hitting him lower in the batting order. 

This is especially true against right-handed pitching, against whom Guerrero has managed a paltry .691 OPS and .338 SLG this season. Those are not the numbers of a hitter who deserves to hit in the upper half of the order alongside Kazuma Okamoto. Nathan Lukes, Yohendrick Piñango, and Jesús Sánchez have all acquitted themselves better in these matchups. 

Guerrero has fared much better against left-handed pitching, thankfully, and should remain a top-of-the-order option against southpaws. His .314/.438/.471 slash line against them is more akin to what the Blue Jays expect from their franchise player. 

The problem is that the Blue Jays haven’t played well enough to keep rolling this version of Guerrero out there in big spots. They would miss the playoffs if the season ended today. The afterglow of last season is gone; they need to win games now. Demoting Guerrero to the bottom half of the order might be a necessary move at this point. 

Will Guerrero figure it out eventually? Probably. But this current slump is bordering on ridiculous. Something is seriously wrong, and the Blue Jays shouldn’t be afraid to ruffle their star slugger’s feathers in an effort to get him back on track. 

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