Predicting the Blue Jays’ 2026 Opening Day Roster 2.0
As injuries have popped up throughout spring, the Blue Jays' Opening Day roster picture has changed a bit. Here's our latest predictions.
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The Toronto Blue Jays enter the 2026 season with a title they’ve only held three times before: reigning American League Champions. Last year was a whirlwind for the Jays, who defied all expectations set for them by not only making the playoffs but reaching Game 7 of the World Series. Blue Jays fans are more excited than they have in a long time for their team to return to action and there’s plenty to be excited about.
From blockbuster free agent signings to returning veterans and rookies looking to make their mark at the MLB level, this Blue Jays team is one of the scariest in all of baseball. There aren’t many teams that could best them on paper, but only time will tell whether they can keep up the pace and live up to expectations throughout the season.
Last year the Jays were being projected by virtually everyone to not make the playoffs and likely finish at the bottom of the AL East – well, they won the division and made the World Series so you never truly know what baseball can do. Regardless, here’s a look at what Toronto’s Opening Day roster will look like as we lie about a month away from the regular season’s return.
Position Players
Catcher – Alejandro Kirk
Alejandro Kirk has been one of MLB’s best catchers ever since getting the call to the big leagues in 2020, making the American League All-Star team twice (2022, 2025) and winning a Silver Slugger Award (2022). He had the best season of his career last season, slashing an excellent .282/.348/.421 with career-highs in home runs (17), RBI (76), and fWAR (4.7). Behind Cal Raleigh of the Mariners, he is easily the best catcher in the American League and is the primary shot-caller of this squad. He hit one home run and drove in four runs in 15 World Baseball Classic at-bats for Team Mexico this year.
Catcher – Tyler Heineman
Tyler Heineman is the backup catcher for the Blue Jays this season and had the best year of his career in 2025, like Kirk. A career backup, Heineman earned 175 plate appearances last season and slashed .289/.361/.416 with 11 extra-base hits, driving in 20 runs, and striking out in less than 18% of plate appearances. He was quietly one of the best catchers in baseball, having just 0.1 fWAR less than J.T. Realmuto of the Philadelphia Phillies. He’s a great locker room guy who has produced great things on the field for the Jays.
First Base – Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Where do you even start with Vladimir Guerrero Jr.? The ALCS MVP Award? The .397/.494/.795 postseason slashline? The 14-year, $500 million extension? This is a franchise-calibre player who has endeared himself to the hearts of all Blue Jays fans and will be for the rest of his illustrious career. A year removed from one of the most impressive postseasons ever, we might not have seen the best of Guerrero, and that’s saying something.
He’s reached the 48-home run mark in a single season, 29 hits in a single postseason, and he’ll hunt down every franchise record possible in the coming years. In the 2026 WBC, he was one of three hitters to tally at least 17 total bases and he notched five extra-base hits without striking out at all. For the upcoming regular season, he’s a dark horse (or, really, an obvious) candidate for AL MVP.
Second Base – Ernie Clement
Your single-season postseason hit king is Ernie Clement thanks to his heroic performance(s) in 2025, and he will be very important to the Blue Jays’ success in 2026 and beyond. Clement slashed .277/.313/.398 last year and set career-highs in runs (83) and fWAR (3.2), and he’s been one of the league’s most underrated players over the last few seasons. Out of all infielders since 2024 with at least 7.0 total rWAR, Clement has by far the lowest strikeout rate at just 9.8%. He’ll play a big role in Toronto’s performance this season.
This spring, Clement hit .300/.364/.450 with a heightened 25% strikeout rate in eight games. There’s been increase in the swing-and-miss aspect of his game which has always been one of his strong spots, but expect this to come back down to his career norms once the regular season begins. He wasn’t able to get a full spring training workload due to sitting on Team USA’s bench for most of the WBC and once he’s able to get back into the swing of things he’ll return to form.
Third Base – Kazuma Okamoto
Signed to a four-year, $60 million free agent deal from Japan’s NPB, Kazuma Okamoto will get his first taste of MLB action in 2026 as the Toronto Blue Jays’ starting third baseman. He posted seven consecutive 25+ home run seasons in NPB and over his last five seasons he has averaged a .275 batting average, 30 home runs, 84 RBI, 29 doubles, and an .898 OPS. Watching how he adjusts to MLB pitching is one of the most important storylines to watch this spring and over the rest of the regular season.
Okamoto hit .316/.435/.632 in eight spring training games and has shown incredible discipline at the plate with a 14.3% walk rate and has a very strong 18.3% barrel rate. His 1.067 OPS is the sixth-highest among Blue Jays hitters this spring and his 51.8% hard-hit rate would rank in the top-20 hitters from the 2025 season. He seems to be adjusting well to MLB opposition and will look to break out this season for Toronto.
Shortstop – Andrés Giménez
Andrés Giménez will be a primary starting shortstop on Opening Day for the first time in his MLB career following the departure of Bo Bichette in free agency. His first regular season as a Blue Jay went a bit worse than planned in the regular season, as he slashed .210/.285/.313 with only seven home runs, 35 RBI, and 12 stolen bases – all the worst marks he’s posted since 2021. In the postseason he had a few big home runs against the Seattle Mariners in the ALCS and he can hopefully translate some of that success into the 2026 regular season.
Giménez was a part of the 2026 WBC Champions in Team Venezuela, and he went 1-for-9 in six WBC games. He featured mostly as a late-inning defensive replacement behind shortstop Ezequiel Tovar of the Rockies but also slashed a strong .368/.455/.842 in eight spring training games. Despite a lack of success at the plate at the WBC, he is one of five Blue Jays with multiple home runs this spring and the only one to do so in less than 14 games.
Left Fielder – Nathan Lukes
An underrated depth option turned starting left fielder is the story of Nathan Lukes‘ 2025 season, as he turned an opportunity to break the team out of camp. After never notching more than 100 plate appearances in a single season, he got 438 of them last year with the Blue Jays and he made the most of it, slashing .255/.323/.407 with 19 doubles, 12 home runs, 65 RBI, and just a 13.7% strikeout rate.
His .333/.468/.417 spring training slashline all but confirmed that he’d make Toronto’s Opening Day roster and he’ll be competing for a starting role in the outfield. Lukes is a competitor who showed his clutch abilities in the playoffs last year (17 postseason hits) and the Blue Jays will try to fit him in as much as possible.
Left Fielder – Davis Schneider
Davis Schneider will likely serve as a platoon option against left-handed pitching with Lukes and/or Jesús Sánchez, who will both take up the majority of plate appearances against right-handed options. Schneider showed a better ability to cover both handednesses in 2025 and overall had a strong year where he slashed .234/.361/.436 with 11 home runs, 31 RBI, and an incredible 15.9% walk rate. Schneider is a solid hitter, and if he can earn regular playing time he might run with the opportunity – but for now, he’s a pinch-hitter and platoon option. His .409 OPS this spring is certainly not an encouraging sign for his future with the Jays, however.
Center Fielder – Daulton Varsho
As the best center fielder to not yet win a Gold Glove Award, Daulton Varsho is the heart and soul of Toronto’s outfield and their overall defensive prowess as a team. He only factored into 71 games in 2025 due to time on the IL, but still slugged 20 home runs (approx. 47-homer pace!) and drove in 55 runs and playing some of the best defense in MLB. His 9 Outs Above Average ranked in the 95th percentile of fielders and he’ll be one of the most valuable center fielders in the league if he can remain healthy.
Varsho was a demon with the bat this spring, where he hit five home runs, drove in 14 RBI, and tallied 11 extra-base hits with a .380/.426/.820 slashline in 50 at-bats. He also lowered his strikeout rate to just eight percent this spring compared to a 24.9% career norm, so we could see Varsho lock down the first MVP votes in his career in what could be a breakout season.
Center Fielder – Myles Straw
Myles Straw will serve as the backup option to Varsho for the second-consecutive season, but will find plenty of use as a late-inning defensive substitution option. He had the tenth-highest OAA among outfielders in 2025 (10 OAA) and he posted the second-best fWAR of his career (1.8). He tied his career-high in home runs with four and factored into 137 regular season games to accomodate for Varsho’s injury issues, and it’s very likely he’ll play a crucial role again in 2026.
Right Fielder – Addison Barger
The owner of the only pinch-hit grand slam in World Series history, Addison Barger, broke out in a major way last year. He slugged 21 home runs, drove in 74 runs, hit 32 doubles, and had the third-strongest average arm strength in all of MLB (96.5 MPH). His 75.9 MPH bat speed was the 14th-highest in baseball last year and he’s a weapon on all sides of the ball for the Blue Jays. There are some strikeout concerns with his game, but the rest of his skillset makes up for this.
Barger dominated opposing pitching this spring to the tune of a .310/.396/.595 slashline with three home runs and 13 RBI. He had three multi-hit games despite tallying four or more plate appearances just twice and has reached base in all but five of his 17 spring games. Barger is a prominent breakout candidate for the Jays in 2026 and will be a driving force in their offense this year.
Right Fielder – Jesús Sánchez
Jesús Sánchez was recently acquired from the Houston Astros in exchange for Joey Loperfido, and he represents a powerful bat against right-handed pitching. Sánchez has hit at least 13 home runs in each of the last five seasons and has at least 20 doubles in each of the last three years. The concerns lie in his strikeout rate and walk rate, but he improved his walk rate from 7.6% to 8.5% from 2024 to 2025 and lowered his strikeout rate from 26.1% to 22.1% over the same span.
13 hits and eight RBI this spring definitely impressed Blue Jays management and he’ll likely be a part of the team’s bench on Opening Day, if not in the starting lineup as the Athletics will be throwing right-hander Luis Severino.
Designated Hitter – George Springer
George Springer had a year to remember for Blue Jays fans, turning back the clock and fighting against Father Time as a primary designated hitter in 2025. One of the most unforgettable moments in recent MLB history is his three-run home run in the ALCS to ultimately send the Blue Jays to the World Series. In the regular season, Springer finished seventh in AL MVP voting with a .309/.399/.560 slashline, 32 home runs, 84 RBI, 27 doubles, 5.2 fWAR, and a career-best 166 wRC+. He’s a consistent presence for the Blue Jays and will serve as their leadoff hitter yet again.
Pitching Staff
RHP Kevin Gausman
The probable Opening Day starter for the 2026 Blue Jays, for the first time as a Blue Jay and the third time in his career (2017 Orioles, 2021 Giants), is Kevin Gausman. If you combine regular season and postseason performances from last season, Gausman threw the most pitches and innings of all pitchers in MLB, showcasing his versatility and durability.
He won 10+ games for the seventh time in his career and is one of five pitchers to do so in each of the last five seasons. Gausman will be Toronto’s Opening Day Starter in the fifth and final year of his current contract and he’ll look to branch off of his strong spring training (9.1 IP, 3 ER, 8 K) in the coming regular season.
RHP Dylan Cease
Dylan Cease was acquired in free agency this offseason for the low price of $210 million owed to him over the next seven seasons. Cease is the only pitcher to strike out 200+ batters in each of the last five seasons and boasts some of the best swing-and-miss stuff in MLB. He garnered the longest free agent contract this offseason and will look to serve as Toronto’s ace of the future and prove himself with a strong first year north of the border.
Cease was borderline unhittable this spring, making three starts totalling 9.2 innings with a 12/3 strikeout-to-walk ratio and an ERA of 0.93. His new changeup has baffled hitters and his elite strikeout stuff has certainly translated thus far into his Blue Jays tenure.
RHP Cody Ponce
Like Cease, Cody Ponce was inked to a multi-year deal in free agency with the Blue Jays, his coming in at $30 million over three years. He’s coming off the best season in KBO history where he set the league’s single-season strikeout record with 252 Ks while posting a 17-1 record with a 1.89 ERA and 2.04 FIP. Making his return to MLB for the first time since 2022, Ponce will look to earn his spot back in the big leagues after pitching overseas to improve his skillset.
Ponce made himself known in spring training with an 0.66 ERA over 13.2 innings where opponents hit just .152 against him. Only one barrel was achieved against him in his five spring starts and his lethal pitch mix looks to be one of the league’s best.
LHP Eric Lauer
A pitcher who played a crucial role for the Blue Jays throughout the 2025 season was left-hander Eric Lauer, filling roles as both a starter and reliever. Lauer notched a 3.18 ERA over 104.2 innings of work, making 15 starts, 13 relief appearances, and striking out 102 batters in the regular season. In the playoffs, his overall performance wasn’t incredible but he pitched a heroic effort in the marathon Game 3 of the World Series in which he tossed 4.2 innings of scoreless relief in extra innings in the losing effort.
Following injuries to Trey Yesavage, Shane Bieber, and José Berríos, Lauer will serve as a member of Toronto’s rotation to begin the 2026 season. He allowed eight earned runs in 8.1 innings of spring training ball, but his 4.62 FIP shows a better performance than his 8.64 ERA might indicate. Lauer started slow in the spring for the Jays last season and will hopefully recreate his 2025 trajectory in a similar manner.
RHP Max Scherzer
After starting Game 7 of the World Series for the Blue Jays last season, Max Scherzer has returned to the team on a one-year contract. Not only was he a very reliable arm in the postseason last year, but he has been one of the most impressive pitchers on this staff in spring training. This spring, Scherzer threw 13.2 innings without allowing a single earned run and allowing just nine baserunners. His fastball has touched 95+ MPH with frequency and he seems to be in an absolute groove right now.
Opposing batters were flailing at the plate against Scherzer with just a .091 batting average against him, and among pitchers to face 45+ batters this spring he has the second-best opponents’ wOBA (0.142). Scherzer is the anchor to this strong pitching staff and given all the injuries this rotation is enduring at the start of the season, his presence and consistency on the mound will be more than acceptable.
LHP Mason Fluharty
Mason Fluharty made himself known on a national stage in his 2025 rookie season, becoming one of the most reliable relievers in Toronto’s bullpen. In the regular season, he threw 52.2 innings to the tune of a 4.44 ERA with 56 strikeouts. He ranked in the top 10% of MLB pitchers in average exit velocity (86.6 MPH), whiff rate (31.9%) and hard-hit rate (33.1%). Fluharty was called upon in relief in the ninth inning of an August game against the Dodgers and struck out Shohei Ohtani and coaxed a groundout from Mookie Betts (both with the bases loaded) to preserve Toronto’s lead and lock down his only career save thus far.
Fluharty was absolutely dominant this spring, tossing 6.2 innings while only allowing one earned run. He only allowed five baserunners all spring and struck out ten while walking none. He’s quickly transforming into one of the most reliable left-handed relievers in the division.
LHP Brendon Little
Brendon Little has one of the nastiest pitch mixes in all of baseball and has a new pitch in his arsenal already in spring training. His Baseball Savant page from last year was filled with red bubbles, indicating high league-rankings, and he had the second-highest whiff rate (43.5%) in baseball behind flamethrower Mason Miller, was 97th percentile in groundball rate (59.9%), and 92nd percentile strikeout rate (30.8%).
Little added a four-seam fastball to his repertoire that reached 98 MPH in spring training, so he could be even nastier in the coming campaign. Like Fluharty, Little was a beast this spring and had 11 strikeouts in six innings of work while opponents hit just .171 against him. His retooled arsenal is going to make him an intriguing arm to watch this year.
RHP Louis Varland
Rumour has it that Louis Varland is currently warming up in the Blue Jays’ bullpen…one could assume this is always true following his MLB-record fifteen games pitched in the 2026 postseason. Varland was acquired from the Minnesota Twins at last year’s trade deadline, and while he struggled at times at the end of the regular season, he was rock solid in the playoffs. He threw 16.2 innings of 3.78 ERA baseball in the postseason with 18 strikeouts and only three walks. He will undoubtedly play a crucial role in Toronto’s bullpen this season.
RHP Chase Lee
Chase Lee was acquired by the Blue Jays this offseason from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for left-handed minor league pitcher Johan Simon, and he showed his value this spring. Lee threw 6.1 innings in spring training without allowing a single earned run and allowing only four baserunners (0.63 WHIP). He uses a low arm angle (-4º in 2025) and a sweeper/sinker combination to throw hitters off balance and it worked to perfection this spring.
Lee was fighting for this final roster spot with some Rule 5 draft picks but his performances over the last month or so should earn him the final position in the Blue Jays’ bullpen. He threw 37.1 innings of 4.10 ERA-ball last year for the Tigers and he looks to improve on this with a new team.
RHP Braydon Fisher
Braydon Fisher placed tenth in AL Rookie of the Year voting thanks to his 50.0 innings of 2.70 ERA ball where he posted a 11.2 K/9 rate. Out of rookie relievers who pitched at least 50 innings in 2025, Fisher had the second-best strikeout rate, the fourth-best ERA, and the fourth-best home run rate (0.7 HR/9).
He also allowed the least hits (32) of the bunch and made a great impression in his first year at the MLB level. A 1.35 ERA this spring also helps his case as a big-league reliever and he’ll be a key part of this bullpen. Fisher has been relied upon in high-pressure situations and will likely be thrust into a big role in 2026.
RHP Tyler Rogers
New free agent acquisition Tyler Rogers attacks hitters from a completely unique arm angle. Whereas Yesavage has the league’s highest arm angle (64º), Rogers throws the ball the league’s lowest angle (-61º). He has pitched in the most MLB games since 2021 by a wide margin (374) and has done so with a 2.71 ERA, walking only 68 batters over this span. Rogers notched an ERA under 2.00 last season for the first time in his career (1.98 ERA) and looks to be one of Toronto’s most reliable relievers.
RHP Tommy Nance
Tommy Nance was a quiet and underrated beast out of Toronto’s bullpen last season, posting a 1.99 ERA and leading the Blue Jays’ pitching staff in this department. Nance only threw 31.2 innings, as he was only used in 30 games in 2025, but he showed a strong capability to strike hitters out and miss bats.
His curveball was the definition of an elite pitch last year, allowing just a .159 batting average and a 40.9% whiff rate on it. It was one of the hardest-thrown curveballs in the league at 85.0 MPH and he’s going to remain an under-the-radar weapon for the Blue Jays.
RHP Jeff Hoffman (Closer)
Last but not least is the closer who sent the Blue Jays to the World Series: Jeff Hoffman. Hoffman had a season full of ups and downs in 2025, and it’s very difficult to predict how his skillset will play out in 2026.
His grip on the closer’s role might be in question and he’ll need to re-assert his prowess as a top closer in MLB this season. There were key moments throughout the season where Hoffman wasn’t able to get the job done, and given how close Toronto was able to get to a World Series win in 2025 they will probably do whatever needs to be done to win – playing the hot hand, to put it simply.
If Hoffman is not able to be the closer that the Blue Jays need him to be, they’ll have to move onto another of their many reliable relievers. Hoffman has the potential to be the league’s top reliever and he showed signs of it in the playoffs last year, posting a 1.46 ERA over 12.2 postseason innings. He sent the Jays to the World Series and he will come back with a vengeance in 2026, so Jeff Hoffman is a name to watch going forward.
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Written by
Ethan has been writing for Just Baseball since 2024 and is fascinated by how sabermetric statistics can assist our understanding of outcomes and probability in baseball.…