3 Blue Jays most to blame for mediocre start to 2024 season

Over the past three seasons Bo Bichette has established himself as a hitting machine for Toronto. His numbers last year were very impressive (.306 BA, 20 HR, 73 RBI, .814 OPS) even though he only played in 135 games. and he earned his second career All-Star selection and a 16th place finish in the American League MVP race.

Bichette has been ice cold to start the new season, though (.216 BA, 1 HR, 10 RBI, .593 OPS). While nobody aside from Justin Turner is hitting particularly well for Toronto, Bichette is supposed to be one of the top table setters in the league. To this point, though, he’s been far from that, and his lack of production has been killing the Blue Jays.

There’s a track record of success from Bichette that suggests he’s bound to get going at some point, but until he does, chances are Toronto’s lineup will struggle to consistently score runs. At his best, Bichette is one of the better all-around hitters in the game, but so far this season, he has struggled mightily, and the Blue Jays and their fans are hoping that he will be able to turn things around sooner rather than later.

Kevin Gausman

Kevin Gausman’s late run of success in his career hit a new height in 2023, when he finished third in the American League Cy Young race and earned his second career All-Star selection. But similar to Bichette, he has looked pretty awful early on this season, which is not good considering how heavily Toronto is relying on him to be their top starting pitcher.

The sample size is small, but Gausman’s numbers through his first five starts are ugly (0-3, 5.57 ERA, 18 K, 1.57 WHIP). He’s struggling to strike out batters as frequently as he did last year when he led the American League in strikeouts with 237, and he’s only pitched past the fifth inning once through his first five starts.

The good news is that Gausman has looked better in his past two starts, but he’s just not pitching at the level fans had become accustomed to seeing from him last year. A bit of a decline would be fine, but if Gausman keeps on struggling to fulfill his ace role for Toronto, they could be in some serious trouble as the season progresses.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Perhaps the most concerning development has been the struggles of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Guerrero enjoyed a breakout campaign in 2021 that saw him finish second in the American League MVP race, and while he’s been an All-Star for three straight years, his numbers have continued to decline ever since he seemingly announced himself as the games’ next star slugger.

There were some light concerns about Guerrero’s recent downturn in production entering the year, but his early season slump has made those concerns all the more pronounced. Guerrero’s numbers to this point are pretty bad (.206 BA, 3 HR, 10 RBI, .643 OPS), and to make matters worse, he hasn’t really shown any signs of being able to turn things around as of late either, as he has just two hits over his past six games played.

At his peak, Guerrero is the Blue Jays best bat, but he’s been virtually invisible to start the year. If the team intends on finding their way to the playoffs this year, they are going to need him to produce like he did in 2021. But considering how bad he’s been to start the season, chances are Toronto would be pleased if he played at the level he played at last year, and all eyes will be on him to see if he can manage to turn things around in the near future.