Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is leading off for just the second time in his career, a move the Blue Jays say is evolving—not a permanent change—as they search for answers amid slumps. With George Springer on the bench for Tuesday’s game at Comerica Park against the P
By the time Vladimir Guerrero Jr. stepped out near the visiting clubhouse at Comerica Park, it was clear the Blue Jays weren’t just toying with the idea.
“If they want me to lead off and the team needs me there, I’ll lead off,” the 27-year-old said.
At the time, it sounded like something between resolve and a half-joke. Three weeks later, ahead of Tuesday’s matchup with Zack Wheeler and the Philadelphia Phillies, Guerrero Jr. was doing something he has rarely been asked to do: leading off a big-league game for just the second time in his career. and the first time since the final game of the 2024 season.
For now. the Blue Jays insist this is an evolving situation rather than a permanent shift—though it lands at exactly the kind of moment that forces teams to change something. More than two months into the season, Guerrero Jr. and George Springer, the Blue Jays’ typical leadoff hitter, have both been stuck in extended slumps. When that’s the backdrop, Toronto doesn’t wait for the baseball to fix itself.
“We’ll shake it up a little bit and see how it goes,” manager John Schneider said before Tuesday’s game. “I said, who’s going to be a better DH today, you or Schwarber?”
The answer, at least on paper, pointed to Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber, who leads MLB with 23 home runs. Schwarber is one of several power-first hitters who routinely take leadoff, alongside Shohei Ohtani, Ronald Acuna Jr. and Nick Kurtz—names that have helped blur the old idea that the leadoff role belongs only to speed and table-setting.
Mindful of that, the Blue Jays also believe Guerrero Jr. still has enough juice to change the equation. Entering Tuesday, he was hitting .282 with a .740 OPS and three home runs, putting him on pace for about seven home runs in a full season.
But the deeper numbers explain why the change is happening now. Guerrero Jr.’s isolated power of .085 ranks 14th on the Blue Jays behind Myles Straw and just ahead of Tyler Heineman. In recent weeks. as his production has dipped. he’s said he’s searching for one swing—ideally a no-doubt home run—and that hasn’t been coming easily despite hard-hit outs.
Schneider’s message has been simple: keep swinging, keep believing, keep working.
“You’ve got to just keep going, really,” he said. “It’s just baseball.”
From the third base dugout, Schneider sees more than just rough timing. He believes opposing pitchers are attacking Guerrero Jr. with sinkers inside to open up the outer part of the plate for breaking balls away. And if that plan sounds familiar, the chase rate suggests it’s working.
Guerrero Jr. has been swinging at pitches outside the zone 31.9% of the time—his career high—and it’s spiked by 10 percentage points since last year.
Schneider’s logic is plain: as long as pitchers feel he’ll chase outside, they don’t have to offer him much to hit in the zone. And until pitches start coming in where he can drive them, getting to the kind of at-bat he wants—one that turns into a home run—is going to be difficult.
It’s a problem that’s easy to diagram and harder to fix. Schneider acknowledged that reality at the same time he described the challenge’s opponent-ready specifics.
“You’d like for him to stop chasing, but that’s easy to say and hard to do when the likes of Cristopher Sanchez, Wheeler and Jesus Luzardo are on the mound,” he said.
Still, he believes Guerrero Jr. is willing to accept the hard part from the leadoff spot. After a loose discussion about leading off had been floating for weeks, Schneider asked him more seriously Monday night.
“I’ll hit wherever,” Guerrero Jr. told his manager.
So when the lineup turned over Tuesday, Springer was on the bench and Guerrero Jr. took over at the top. He delivered exactly the kind of small early contribution the Blue Jays wanted—grounding out twice and adding an infield single in his first three trips to the plate.
Schneider framed it the way teams usually do when they’re asking one player to absorb pressure from a new role.
“It’s no secret that we go as Vlad goes, right?” he said. “And, no one feels that more than him. I want him to get up there and have as many bats as he can. He’s going to get it going eventually. It’s just, see how this goes (Tuesday), see how it goes going forward. Nothing’s set in stone.”
The reshuffling doesn’t stop with Guerrero Jr. Ernie Clement moved to the No. 3 spot in the order Tuesday, and Schneider said that responsibility doesn’t bother him.
“Yeah, he doesn’t care,” Schneider said.
Springer’s role, meanwhile, is the other half of the tension. Over the course of his career. Springer has been one of MLB’s best leadoff hitters with 65 career leadoff home runs. But the Blue Jays have moved him in and out of the leadoff spot in recent seasons. and he could return to that position as soon as Wednesday when Luzardo pitches.
“It depends on who we’re facing,” Schneider said. “This isn’t like a demotion for George or a promotion for Vlad. This is just trying to get Vlad going.”
If the Blue Jays crave stability, they’ve accepted that baseball doesn’t always give it. They trust their hitters to adapt across different batting orders, and the numbers show how much rotation they’ve already endured: through 68 games this season, they’ve used 64 different lineups.
Sequencing still matters—especially for comfort early and matchups late against opposing bullpens. But Schneider’s point was direct: as long as the best hitters are near the top of the order, lineup order has far less impact than the actual performance of the hitters.
That’s why the burden falls back to Guerrero Jr. If he can adjust to how pitchers are pitching him and find the form that made him average 29 home runs, 96 RBI and an .854 OPS per 162 games played, the Blue Jays’ latest lineup bet won’t matter as much where it started.
For one day at least, the question has a face. Tuesday’s leadoff experiment gives Guerrero Jr. more at-bats and more opportunities to break out—while the rest of the lineup adjusts around whether one swing finally turns into momentum.
MISRYOUM Sports News Blue Jays Vladimir Guerrero Jr. George Springer Zack Wheeler Philadelphia Phillies Kyle Schwarber John Schneider MLB leadoff George Springer slump Guerrero Jr slump