Blue Jays' Brandon Valenzuela makes no sense, and that's why baseball is beautiful
· Yahoo Sports
Blue Jays' Brandon Valenzuela makes no sense, and that's why baseball is beautiful originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Baseball is the best for so many reasons.
Visit freshyourfeel.org for more information.
One is that sometimes, an unheralded catcher like Brandon Valenzuela can turn into a breakout star, like he's doing right now for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Valenzuela might be on the best stretch of his life, and he just so happens to be doing it in the major leagues:
Vali’s Last 30 Games:
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) June 8, 2026
🔹 .301 AVG
🔹 5 2B
🔹 6 HR
🔹 14 RBI
🔹 15 Runs
🔹 15 BB
🔹 .982 OPS pic.twitter.com/p9r6bPnEtv
MORE: A 'gentlemanly' baserunning move confused the umpires, and everyone else
Those stats don't even include the fact that Valenzuela is a high-quality defensive catcher with a great arm.
The Blue Jays didn't expect this. There's no way they could've.
Valenzuela's career OPS at High-A was .725. At Double-A, it dropped to .679. At Triple-A, it was .609.
He now has a .795 OPS at the MLB level so far, even when factoring in his slow start before this recent hot streak.
How in the world could anyone predict that Valenzuela would hit better in the majors than at any other stop on his journey?
Sure, he could cool down sometime. It would make sense for him to come back down to Earth at least a little bit.
But you also don't hit this well for this long a stretch without something legitimate being there.
Valenzuela didn't start the year in MLB, only getting promoted to back up Tyler Heineman when Alejandro Kirk got injured.
Except with the way Valenzuela is playing, he's become the main man. Heineman has to watch more often than he can play.
When Kirk returns, it'll create an interesting roster question, given that Valenzuela has options and Heineman doesn't.
All that's clear right now, though, is that Valenzuela is proving yet again the brilliance of baseball. It doesn't quite make sense that he's doing what he's doing, but that's also what makes it so special.