2026 Bluebird Banter Top 40 Prospects: 37-40
We’ve reached the gap between the end of spring training and opening day. The Jays don’t play until Friday night. To fill that gap, we’re going to run our annual top 40 prospect ranking this week, with two editions per day from now through Thursday.
We’ll take opening weekend off and come back on Monday to count down the top 8. Without further ado… 40. Brandon Barriera, LHP, Age 22 (DOB: 3/4/2004), Grade 35, 2025: 14th Brandon Barriera’s trajectory has been mostly downwards since he was selected 23rd overall back in 2022.
He showed up to camp the next summer visibly out of shape and had a thoroughly disappointing first pro season that ended early due to elbow soreness. He cleaned up his conditioning, and reports out of camp in 2024 were good. That lasted just 1.
1 innings into the regular season before he went down with elbow issues again, this time requiring Tommy John surgery. He made it back in June of last summer and pitched 5. 2 extremely messy innings before going down yet again, this time with a fractured ulna.
It’s been a rough ride. So why is he still here? Because in the brief flashes we’ve gotten the stuff that made him a first round pick still appears to be there.
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