There is no secret that the Toronto Blue Jays have had quite a poor season thus far, and certainly one of the worst in recent memory. Furthermore, current faces of the franchise Vladimir Guererro Jr. and Bo Bichette have been on serious down years this season and talks of moving one if not both players have been stirring all year. However, the silver lining to all of this turmoil is the new wave of young and talented group of players coming up through the teams system and making the jump to the major leagues. The group of former Buffalo Bisons consisting of Davis Schneider, Spencer Horwitz, Ernie Clement, and Addison Barger, have teared up the minor leagues over the last few years and have been making a serious impact for the team since being called up. Probably the most well known youngster on the Blue Jays, not only for his impressive moustache but for his red hot bat as well, has been Davis Schneider. After being called up for the first time in August in 2023, and hitting a homerun in his debut over the Green Monster at Fenway Park, the value of Schneider became apparent from the very beginning. As for the rest of the group of young stars, Horwitz and Clement have continued to be hot at the plate between tenures in Triple-A and the MLB this year, and have definitely earned a permanent roster spot as of late and are here to stay. Addison Barger still has some work to do, not having quite the same immediate success as his peers, but still is a key piece to this new young core of Blue Jays and will be a valuable asset for many years.

Together, these four can certainly bring the franchise into a new age and hopefully bring the team back to its glory days. Similarly to the Blue Jays new core of young prospects, this situation can be compared to the Toronto Maple Leafs from the mid 2010’s. After missing the playoffs 10 out of 11 years between 2006 and 2016, the Leafs organization was in turmoil and was in desperate need of a spark of magic to turn themselves around. That spark would be found in the form of the Leafs receiving the number one overall pick in the 2016 entry draft, and selecting top prospect Auston Matthews. The addition of Matthews already set Toronto up for success, and when paired with fellow young stars in Mitch Marner, William Nylander, and Morgan Rielly, the future was certainly bright. Since 2016, the Maple Leafs have been to the playoffs every single year, and the young core of Matthews, Marner, Rielly, and Nylander were all at the forefront. Along with overall team success, some members of the Leaf’s core 4 have had incredible individual success as well. Auston Matthews has scored over 60 goals in a season twice, along with claiming an MVP award and a two-time Rocket Richard award winner for scoring the most goals in the entire league for a season. The other three members have also contributed heavily to the team, and while they haven’t brought home any hardware like Matthews they still have high value and individual talent that could contribute to any team.

Just like how the Maple Leafs were able to build a young and talented group of players to elevate their franchise to new level, the Blue Jays are on the verge of doing the same thing. Now don’t get it mistaken, the Jays are still multiple years away from being a true contender, and it will still take a while for their new core to fully develop and reach their true potential. With future stars in Schneider and Horwitz on the brink of breaking out into legit franchise players, and them being guided by veterans of the league like George Springer, Kevin Kiermaier, and now even Vladimir Guerrero Jr. I believe the Jays will be in good hands for years to come. Now I also believe that the rise of this new core of Blue Jays will also come with some sacrifice, what I mean is that eventually the franchise will have to soon let go of the past parts of the core in order to fully build around the new one. These sacrifices most likely will come in the form of trading away someone like Bo Bichette, who has had by far his worst season of his major league career this year. Bichette has also openly stated recently that he would not be surprised if he were to be traded away from the team. I think the case for Bichette is if the team can’t turn there season around quickly enough to make a real run at a playoff spot, Toronto will use him and his current trade value to find a package deal that will add more assets to the team to potentially restart their rebuild and focus around the core four of Schneider, Horwitz, Clement, and Barger. Along with these four, the Blue Jays have clearly shown that they are also contempt on keeping and building around Guerrero Jr. labeling him as the teams current superstar and franchise cornerstone.

Overall, Toronto’s hopes at the playoffs are not quite over yet, but are looking bleak and change needs to happen. If the Jays are unable to secure a playoff birth this season, and begin to start declining in the next couple of years, the time for a new era in Blue Jays baseball might be upon us. Either way, the rise of a new young core of players that will take the Blue Jays into the future will be as exciting as ever, and fans will be eagerly anticipating what lies ahead for the franchise.