Toronto Blue Jays 2025 Breakout Player of the Year

The Blue Jays’ most valuable players this season were the guys that everyone already knew. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Bo Bichette. Alejandro Kirk. Kevin Gausman. George Springer.

(Sure, no one was expecting Springer to turn back the clock like he did. But even the most casual of baseball fans was already familiar with the four-time All-Star and 2017 World Series MVP. We knew he could hit like this – we just hadn’t seen it in a while.)

Still, no team wins a division title on star power alone. The Blue Jays were great in 2025 because Springer, Guerrero, Bichette, Kirk, and Gausman led the way. But they were also great because of how many other players chipped in. 

Today, I’m here to shine a light on Toronto’s most unexpected contributors. These players made names for themselves as they helped their club climb from the basement to the top floor of the AL East. These were the breakout Blue Jays of 2025.

Honourable Mentions
Ernie Clement – 157 G, 588 PA, .277/.313/.398, 98 wRC+, 22 DRS, 13 FRV, 3.2 fWAR
You could make a pretty convincing argument that Ernie Clement had a stronger season than any of the other breakout players I've ranked ahead of him. However, I hemmed and hawed over whether or not this was really a breakout season for him at all.

On the one hand, he cemented himself as an everyday player, qualifying for the batting title for the first time after five big league seasons. Yet, Clement was a Gold Glove finalist last year, and he actually performed better in several categories in 2024 than in 2025, including home runs, RBI, stolen bases, and strikeout rate.

Maybe the best way to put it is that Clement broke out in 2024, and in 2025, he proved his breakout was real and continued to build upon his success. 

Tyler Heineman – 64 G, 174 PA, .289/.361/.416, 120 wRC+, 10 DRS, 7 FRV, 2.1 fWAR
No one on this team’s success was more surprising than Tyler Heineman’s. Over the first five seasons of his big league career, Heineman played 112 games and racked up 1.4 FanGraph WAR. His defense was always excellent, but his feeble bat prevented him from earning consistent playing time. Then came 2025.

This past season, Heineman led AL catchers (min. 150 PA) in batting average. He ranked second in OBP and fourth in OPS and wRC+. With his Gold Glove-caliber defense, the Blue Jays only needed his bat to be good enough. But it was more than that. It was good, period.

Now, of course, if the Jays really believed in Heineman’s bat, they’d have given him more playing time down the stretch. Yet, underlying his .344 wOBA is a .277 xwOBA, and an unsustainable .342 BABIP goes a long way toward explaining his AL catcher-leading batting average. 

So no, Heineman hasn’t really turned into an offensive stud at 34. But he’s proven he’s more than capable of holding down the backup catching role on a contending team, and solid backup catchers are harder to come by than you might think. 

Brendon Little – 79 G, 68.1 IP, 3.03 ERA, 3.26 xERA, 91 K, 30 Holds, 1.3 fWAR
The Blue Jays picked Brendon Little up off the trash heap after the 2023 campaign. A former first-round pick, he had failed to live up to those expectations over his first five professional seasons. 

The lefty was serviceable for Toronto in 2024, pitching 45.2 lower-leverage innings with a 3.74 ERA. He leaned on his sinker to induce groundballs at a 70.9% clip – no pitcher threw as many innings with a higher groundball rate – but he didn’t miss many bats, and he benefited greatly from a low BABIP and a high strand rate.

In 2025, Little decided to lean on his knuckle curve more often, and the results have been spectacular. His whiff rate shot up from 29.7% to 43.5%, third-best among qualified relievers. Accordingly, he upped his strikeout rate from 18.7%, well below league average, to 30.8%, well above. He finished the regular season as one of the most effective relievers in the American League.

As a side effect of trying to miss more bats, Little allowed fewer groundballs and more hard contact, but his 59.9% groundball rate was still elite, and he only gave up two home runs all season. He also saw his walk rate increase, as he issued free passes at a higher rate than any other qualified reliever, but control was never his strong suit anyway. More to the point, a high walk rate isn’t going to kill you as long as you can keep the ball in the yard and strike your way out of jams. And that's exactly what Little did. 

Toronto Blue Jays Breakout Player of the Year
Addison Barger – 135 G, 502 PA, .243/.301/.454, 107 wRC+, 21 HR, 74 RBI, 2.2 fWAR

Addison Barger struggled to make an impact in his first big league season. Over 69 games in 2024, he hit .197 with a 69 wRC+. The pop was there, at least at times, but not nearly often enough to make up for his poor plate discipline and mediocre contact skills. 

Barger followed up his poor debut with a monster spring. Even so, the Blue Jays left him off their Opening Day roster. When he earned the call back up a few weeks later, he spent the first three weeks of his season looking even more lost than he had the year before. 

In May, however, Barger finally started to show off the full extent of his raw power. And while he had his ups and downs throughout the ensuing months, it was impossible to forget how dangerous he looked at his best. He was one of just 23 major leaguers to hit a ball at 116 mph or harder all season, and his average bat speed ranked top 10 in the Junior Circuit. All told, Barger finished his first full year with 32 doubles and 21 home runs. His 107 wRC+ might not look all that impressive, but his xwOBA was better, ranking in the 65th percentile.

On top of that, Barger showed off his super-human strength on the other side of the ball, too. His cannon of an arm came in handy in right field and at third base. Overall, his defense wasn’t particularly strong at either position, but his ability to play both was hugely valuable.

Barger's final numbers aren't going to turn many heads. But when it came to individual moments this past season, few players made me turn my head more. He proved he could hold his own as a multi-positional everyday player and flashed the potential to be so much more. 

So, if we’re talking about Blue Jays who proved in 2025 that they will be key contributors to this team for years to come, no one fits the bill better than Barger. He's Jays Centre's Breakout Player of the Year.