Several first basemen have torn the covers off baseballs in the opening half of the 2026 season. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. isn't one of them.
The Toronto Blue Jays star has endured an alarming power outage with just five home runs this season. Guerrero's .351 slugging percentage and .089 ISO each rank last among 30 qualified players at his position.
Despite those doldrums, fans voted Guerrero Jr. into his sixth straight All-Star Game as a starter. Yet the 27-year-old received a more dubious distinction before the break.
The Athletic's Jayson Stark labeled Guerrero his American League "Least Valuable Player" for the first half. He had some steep competition in Cal Raleigh, who's batting .168 a year after crushing 60 home runs.
Stark noted that the Blue Jays rank 24th in WAR from their first basemen, and Guerrero Jr. has yet to go deep at home in 2026. Making matters worse, he's in the first season of a massive 14-year, $500 million contract.
"That’s not just shocking," Stark wrote of Guerrero's power drought. "It’s crushing a Blue Jays team with World Series dreams and an offense that desperately needs more Vlad magic."
Guerrero will sit out the All-Star game to heal a nagging lower back issue. He's batting .197 since the start of June, so the Blue Jays desperately need him to look more like an MVP candidate in the second half to make another postseason push.