Eric Lauer Hasn’t Been Passing the Blue Jays’ Vibe Check

Amid a lot of injuries to key pieces in their starting rotation, the Toronto Blue Jays have had to rely on some names that otherwise might not have held rotation spots. One of these pitchers is left-handed veteran Eric Lauer, who has been underwhelming at best so far in 2026.

A healthy Blue Jays starting rotation would likely consist of Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease, Trey Yesavage, Shane Bieber, and Cody Ponce, but because the latter three of these pitchers are hurt, Lauer and some other arms have had to fill their spots for the time being. So far, it’s not going well and the Jays are 4-10 in games not started by Gausman or Cease (combined 6-4 in their games).

Lauer has been both underperforming on the field and making headlines off of it, and it’s hard to find the positives in his performance this season. The Jays sit at a 10-14 record through their first 24 games (4th in AL East) and when they are relying on depth options like Lauer to give them decent innings, he hasn’t been holding up his end of the bargain.

Underwhelming Performances

Lauer has started five games so far in 2026 and there’s only one that can be argued as a strong outing, that being his first of the season. His first outing was a 5.1 inning start against the Athletics in which he gave up just two earned runs while striking out nine hitters, walking one, and giving up just three hits. The rest of his performances fall well short of this one.

His next start was an abridged two-inning outing, shortened due to an illness, that had already pushed his start back by a game. The lingering effects of this illness could be impacting his ensuing games, but regardless of this they haven’t been good. In his next three games, Lauer surrendered 13 runs over 15.1 innings (7.63 ERA) while striking out just 14.1% and walking 11.3% of hitters

Lauer has also given up five home runs in his last three starts and has a HR/9 rate of 2.38, a mark that would be well above twice as bad as the league average. Among pitchers with at least 20 innings pitched in 2026, it’s the fifth-worst mark in all of MLB.

His average four-seam fastball velocity has dropped from 91.7 MPH in 2025 to just 90.3 MPH this year and while he had whiff rate of 20% or higher on nearly all his pitches last year, his cutter is the only one to do so in 2026. Lauer’s stuff has just been coming out flat this year and his results are definitely indicative of it, making him just a shadow of the version of him we saw last year.

What Happened to 2025 Lauer?

In 2025, Lauer was one of the most important pieces keeping the Jays going through some injuries in their rotation, and he posted a 3.18 ERA with 102 strikeouts in 104.2 regular season innings. He made 15 starts and 13 relief appearances, acting as a Swiss Army knife that could fill whatever role was required of him. His walk rate of just 6.1% landed him in the 84th percentile of pitchers and was one of the hallmarks of his performances that season.

In the 2025 postseason, he had a 3.12 ERA over 8.2 innings where he struck out eight batters and surrendered walks to just two (alongside four intentional walks). His best playoff performance came in the 18-inning thrilled that was Game 3 of the World Series, where he threw 4.2 scoreless innings of relief where he only gave up two hits. While Toronto didn’t win the game or the series, Lauer’s heroics gave them life and much more of an opportunity to do so.

The Blue Jays went 22-6 in games that Lauer pitched in last year, and went 10-3 in games where he featured out of their bullpen. His four-seam fastball had a +9 Run Value, making it the most valuable four-seamer in MLB thrown under 92.5 MPH on average. He was reliable and even dominant at times in 2025, with an eight-inning gutsy performance vs. the Tigers in late July (6 K, 0 BB, 1 R).

The Eric Lauer that the Jays had the pleasure of employing in 2025 simply hasn’t shown up yet this year. There’s no doubt that the potential to get back to this level of success is certainly there, but he’s been very unreliable in 2026. One can only wonder how long he’ll stick in Toronto’s rotation with performances like these and he might be relegated to a bullpen role or a demotion.

“To Be Blunt, I Hate it”

This past offseason, Lauer lost his arbitration piece against the Blue Jays, earning $4.4 million instead of the $5.75 million he filed for. This could’ve been a source of irritation for him, who’s been quite vocal in the media lately regarding his usage out of the bullpen and it’s leaving a bad taste in the mouths of Blue Jays fans.

After his outing on April 17 in Arizona, Lauer had comments about the Blue Jays using an ‘opener’ for the first inning of the game before bringing him out of the bullpen. The concept of an opener is to use a higher-leverage reliever to face a team’s best hitters at the top of their lineup before allowing the scheduled starter to enter the game facing more favourable matchups against relatively weaker hitters.

Lauer had some choice words for manager John Schneider’s choice to use an opener on his start day, saying, “To be blunt, I hate it […] Hopefully, it’s not something that we will continue doing. But that’s above my pay grade.” Schneider confirmed that it was indeed above Lauer’s pay grade and echoed that the team will use Lauer to get the best results for him and the team.

It’s understandable that a pitcher who has been a starting pitcher for the majority of his career wants to start games, but one could imagine that if Lauer had been pitching better this season he might not make these comments. His frustration likely stems in part from his lack of success on the mound, allowing multiple earned runs in each and every one of his five starts, including three or more in each of his last three games.

One thing that Lauer has given his team while they deal with injuries to their pitching staff is innings, as he’s gone at least five innings in all but one of his outings. They might not be some of the best innings Toronto’s going to get this season, but he’s eating up the majority of the outs that the Jays need every game which is worth something.

Closing Thoughts

Eric Lauer was a very crucial part of the Toronto Blue Jays’ success last year, including some very important innings in the postseason, but in 2026 he’s just not making the cut. He’s been gifted an opportunity to start games for a team on which that he wasn’t originally going to make the rotation, and he’s not making the most of it.

None of this is to say that Lauer is an inherently bad pitcher or personality off the field, but rather that his lack of success on the field this year is changing a lot of the energy surrounding him from fans and the team. The Jays recently signed veteran Patrick Corbin to a one-year deal and he’s proven to be surprisingly reliable in his three outings for them, and he seems to be more deserving of a rotation spot than Lauer right now.

Because of his lack of effectiveness as a starter and his comments against the concept of pitching out of the bullpen, Lauer might not have a spot on the Blue Jays’ roster sooner than you’d expect. With some of Toronto’s starting options seeming to come off the IL soon (Yesavage, Berríos), Lauer needs to either pitch better or adapt to whatever the team needs him to do.