The Blue Jays have spent most of 2026 looking for a spark, and the big-league club has not found much to cling to. Toronto was 46-56 entering Thursday, sitting last in the American League East after dropping six of its previous seven games. The offense has stayed stuck in neutral, the team keeps sliding away from the playoff race, and a season that started with postseason hopes is now leaning hard toward the future.
That future got a little brighter in New Hampshire.
Arjun Nimmala, Toronto’s former first-round pick, kept rolling Wednesday with his third home run in seven games for Double-A New Hampshire in a 7-4 win over Somerset. The 20-year-old shortstop drove the ball an estimated 432 feet to the opposite field and also added a single, giving him hits in six of seven games since rejoining the Fisher Cats lineup.
106 mph | 432 ft 💥MLB’s No. 44 prospect Arjun Nimmala (@BlueJays) has three homers in seven games since his promotion to the Double-A @FisherCats: pic.twitter.com/SsljIRZmDf
Toronto took Nimmala with the No. 20 pick in the 2023 MLB draft because of the offensive upside tied to his athletic build and quick right-handed swing. MLB Pipeline gave him 60 grades for both his power and arm, while FanGraphs projected that he could grow into plus power as his body matures.
The power has never been the question so much as the hit tool. Nimmala’s swing naturally creates lift and lets him punish the ball to all fields, but the longer path can leave him exposed to elevated fastballs. What he has shown lately is that he can do damage without overreaching at the plate.
Through 191 at-bats between High-A Vancouver and Double-A New Hampshire, Nimmala has put together a .267/.373/.455 line with seven homers, 30 RBIs and an .828 OPS. He started the year with Vancouver and posted an .845 OPS over 24 games, enough to earn a promotion even though he was well younger than most of the players around him.
His season hit a pause when a hamstring strain sidelined him from late May until July 7. Since coming back, though, he has looked like the same player who forced his way up earlier in the year. Those three recent homers were his first three at Double-A after he went homerless in his first 18 games at the level.
There is still work ahead. Nimmala needs to sharpen his contact ability, and his defensive future could settle at third base or shortstop depending on how his glove develops.
Toronto’s rough season will not be fixed by one hot stretch in New Hampshire. But Nimmala is giving the organization something it has badly lacked at the major-league level: a young player whose recent production offers a real reason to look ahead.
In Other News...
Red Sox Fans Turned Fenway Into Absolute Chaos Against Toronto
Fenway Park turned into a scene Tuesday night as Red Sox fans joined the tarps off craze during a game against the Blue Jays, stripping off their shirts and waving them in the stands. The celebration, which has made its way from college sports into MLB, has become one of those crowd rituals that can flip a ballpark atmosphere in a hurry, and Bostons version spilled well beyond a single pocket of seats.
What made it stand out for Toronto was how broadly it spread across the park, with the movement showing up from one side of Fenway to the other. The trend has already found a home in St. Louis, where Cardinals fans helped turn it into a recognizable baseball spectacle, and seeing it take over another road environment only added to the sense that this is becoming part of the sports live-game theater. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jays Lose Another Key Bat In Brutal Barger Update
Addison Bargers season is over before it ever really got going, another hit to a Blue Jays lineup that has already had to absorb more than its share of injury news. Manager John Schneider said the outfielder will undergo right elbow surgery, ending Bargers 2026 campaign and putting his availability for the start of next season in doubt.
Barger has been managing elbow problems for several years, and the procedure will be handled by Dr. Keith Meister. The only real question left is how much recovery time follows, with the rehab path likely to spill into next year and leave Toronto waiting longer for a bat it had hoped would carry over the momentum from his breakout power surge in 2025. [Read more 🡒]
Padres May Finally Be Closing In On The Rotation Help They Need
With the trade deadline approaching, the Padres are still hunting for rotation help after injuries have thinned their starting staff. One name that has surfaced in that search is Kevin Gausman, the veteran right-hander who has been part of Torontos plans but now sits in a position that could make him movable if the Blue Jays decide to cash in before August 3.
Gausmans status as a free agent after the season gives Toronto a real decision to make, especially if the club wants to turn an impending departure into assets. The market around him is expected to be active, with several contenders in the mix, and for the Blue Jays it could become one of the more consequential calls of the deadline. [Read more 🡒]