Addison Barger

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Addison Barger

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Biographical Information[edit]

Addison Barger was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 6th round of the 2018 amateur draft, out of a high school in Tampa, FL. He gave up a commitment to go to the University of Florida in order to sign with the Blue Jays. It took him a while to make his major league debut, which only came six years later, in 2024, although in the interim there was one blank season in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the minor leagues. He was mainly an infielder in the minors, with shortstop and third base his main positions, but began to also play the outfield in 2023 to make him more valuable to the major league team.

He truly began to emerge as a prospect in 2022, when he hit a combined .308/.378/.555 between three teams, starting out in Class A with the Vancouver Canadians and moving up through the AA New Hampshire Fisher Cats to the AAA Buffalo Bisons. He slugged 33 doubles and 26 homers that season and was named a Blue Jays organizational All-Star. In 2023, an elbow injury forced him to play a few games on rehabilitation outings in the Florida Complex League and Florida State League and limited him to 88 games with Buffalo. he hit .250 with 9 homers and 46 RBIs for the Bisons, not enough to earn a call-up to the Show.

He returned to Buffalo at the start of 2024 and was hitting .314 after with 21 RBIs 19 games and was the first Bisons position player to be called up to Toronto that year, not counting major league catcher Danny Jansen who had played a few games there on a rehabilitation assignment. He came up to Toronto on April 23rd when CF Kevin Kiermaier was placed on the injured list with a hip problem, and made his debut the next day as the starting left fielder on the road against the Kansas City Royals, going 0-for-4. He also committed an error on the first ball hit to him, what should have been a routine fly ball by Kyle Isbel that he misjudged and saw fall behind his back, a result of his limited experience in the outfield. He collected his first career hit on April 29th against the Royals, after having gone 0 for 11 in his first three games; it was a solid single to right, and he came to score shortly afterwards on a double by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. He had only that hit in 18 at-bats in five games before being sent back to Buffalo. He returned to Toronto on June 14th, taking over the roster spot that became available when Daniel Vogelbach was designated for assignment.

Further Reading[edit]

  • Keegan Matheson: "'I take hacks': Meet Addison Barger, the Blue Jays' new slugger", mlb.com, April 24, 2024. [1]

Related Sites[edit]

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