This season, Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has not looked like someone who has been considered an elite player in the American League. 

In 68 games, the five-time All-Star has been average, posting a .280 batting average and a .738 OPS and has shown little to no power. Guerrero Jr. has three home runs in 246 at-bats through the first two and a half months of the season, when he had eight at this point last season. 

Despite his lack of power, Guerrero Jr. isn't compounding the issue by striking out (30) and is, in fact, walking more (34). The two-time Silver Sluggers' on-base percentage (.372) is leading the team and has helped him be effective on the basepaths, collecting five steals (caught once). 

Even though Guerrero Jr.'s struggles have been limited to his lack of power, the Blue Jays need their $500 million player to get back to his 25-plus home run self.  

Vladimir Guerrero's power outage has not helped with the number of injuries the Blue Jays have had

The Blue Jays have been one of the most injured teams in baseball this season, and Guerrero Jr. has not been an exception. The ALCS MVP (2025) has been out of the lineup for a few days since he felt tightness in his lower back on June 12. Guerrero Jr. is "expected" to return Tuesday, per MLB.com. 

Along with Guerrero Jr.'s injury, infielder Andres Gimenez has also been out of the lineup with left wrist soreness. The starting rotation has not fared well either, with three arms: Jose Berrios (right elbow stress fracture), Shane Bieber (right elbow inflammation) and Cody Ponce (right knee ACL sprain) all on the 60-day injured list. 

However, once he's back in the lineup, he will need to find his power stroke again. Because as Guerrero Jr. goes, the Blue Jays go.

"Blue Jays fans spent all offseason dreaming on a new era of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. What if he could take his postseason -- with eight home runs and a 1.289 OPS over 18 games -- and stretch it across a full season?" wrote Keegan Matheson of MLB.com. "Well, the opposite has happened. Guerrero has just three home runs and his at-bats through the first two-and-a-half months have not looked like the Guerrero of old. Surely, he’ll come around and have a hot streak that will correct these season-long numbers, but the Blue Jays need that to happen soon. Until Guerrero turns this around, it’s going to be hard for the Blue Jays to take off."

As of June 15, the Blue Jays are 10.0 games out of the lead in the American League East and are a game and a half out of the last spot in the American League Wild Card.