Addison Barger admits it took him quite a while to get comfortable in the Major Leagues.
“Too long,” in the Blue Jays slugger’s opinion.
After making his MLB debut on April 24, 2024, the promising prospect had some growing pains. He was optioned to Triple-A twice during an up-and-down year, finishing with a .197 batting average and .601 OPS.
“It was pretty terrible,” Barger said before a recent game in West Sacramento. “Mentally exhausting. But I grinded through it.”
The way Barger has been hitting this season, it’s clear he’s put his rookie struggles far in the past — at the perfect time for his team.
“He’s been huge,” manager John Schneider said. “It’s a left-handed power bat that can really impact the game. He’s had some big hits for us, big hits late for us.”
Here’s how Barger has put things together at the plate this season.
Barger had a simple answer when asked what he was looking to improve on the field: “Everything. Always.”
“That’s just the grind,” he said. “That’s the grind of baseball.”
As a rookie in 2024, that grind meant constant tweaks — such as closing his batting stance, adjusting the position of his hands on the bat and eliminating his large leg kick on his swing.
“I was changing something every week, it seemed like, trying to find something that would stick instead of just trusting what I’ve built over the last seven years,” Barger said.
That continual tinkering is something hardly exclusive to Barger. According to veteran outfielder George Springer, coming up to the Majors and struggling right away tends to prompt players to make changes — even if those changes don’t ultimately help.
“I think the hardest thing for young hitters, young players is when you don’t have success, your natural inclination is just to try and do anything that you can to have success,” Springer said.
Success was hard to come by for Barger as a rookie, and his playing time suffered. The Blue Jays’ No. 6 prospect at the time of his April callup was optioned back to Triple-A on May 3 after going 1-for-18 in his first five games. He fared better when he returned to the Majors in June, but it took until his 25th game to hit his first home run.
Barger finished his rookie season with seven homers (including a walk-off dinger Aug. 23) and 28 RBIs in 208 at-bats. He acknowledged the tweaks he made paid dividends — sometimes, anyway.
“There was a time where it was working and it helped and it was an adjustment, and it showed that I can change on the fly,” he said. “It’s not my natural movement pattern, so I wasn’t completely comfortable with it.”
It wasn’t until 2025 Spring Training that hitting coach David Popkins decided to try a different tactic. His advice to Barger? “Do what you did before.”
“I was like, ‘Alright, that’s easy,’” Barger said.
This season, Barger has gone back to his roots. With his front foot well in the direction of first base, he sports one of the most wide-open batting stances in MLB, at 53 degrees. (Last year, it was 15 degrees.) In 2025, he brought back his big leg kick to get his timing down.
“It was definitely an adjustment period, probably a couple weeks where it still felt weird going back because I was doing the other thing for a minute there,” he said. “Over the long run, it’s easier because it’s more of my natural movement. It’s what I’ve done since I was a little kid.”
It works, too. While Barger is prone to swinging and missing or chasing outside the strike zone more than average, when he squares a baseball up, it can go a long way.
“He obviously has a big, aggressive swing, but he can control it,” Springer said. “I think that’s one of the things that makes him unique.”
Barger’s 75.8 mph average bat speed — tied for 12th in MLB — allows him to crush the ball with regularity. He ranks in the 93rd percentile among qualifying hitters in average exit velocity (93.0 mph) and in the 94th percentile in hard-hit rate (53.8%).
“He hits the ball about as hard as anybody consistently,” Springer said. “Even if he hits it straight down, he still hits it hard. Guys like him, Vladdy, those are guys that hit the ball so hard all the time. It’s fun to watch.”
More importantly, it’s translating into tangible results for Barger. His .513 slugging percentage leads Blue Jays regulars, and his 2.2 fWAR ranks third on the team — behind only Kirk (3.2) and Guerrero (2.4).
“Everyone kind of goes to Bo, Vlad, George a little bit,” Schneider said. “He’s been right in the middle of it, and it’s been a real, real boost to our offense.”
Instead, Santander played just 50 games, batting .179 with a .577 OPS, before being placed on the injured list May 30 with left shoulder inflammation. He’s now unlikely to return until late August at the very earliest.
With Santander on the IL, Barger has picked up the bulk of the playing time — and has picked up the slack, too. Just look at Barger’s numbers compared to Santander’s 2024 stats with Baltimore:
Anthony Santander, 2024: .235/.308/.506, 44 HR in 595 AB (13.5 AB/HR)
Addison Barger, 2025: .273/.324/.513, 14 HR in 267 AB (19.1 AB/HR)
“That’s what we had hoped for, that offensive profile, when we bring Tony in,” Schneider said. “To have Addi come in and take advantage of the opportunity when he did, it kind of flies under the radar a little bit.”
Barger also gives the Blue Jays a dynamic they haven’t had in quite a while: a true left-handed hitter with elite power. The last Toronto player to hit 25 or more homers from the left side in a season was switch-hitter Justin Smoak with 31 (plus seven from the right side) in 2017; before that, it was lefty Adam Lind with 26 back in 2011.
With his lefty power and the ability to play both third base and the outfield, Barger plays a key role for the first-place Blue Jays — and he knows it.
“If I can do what I’m capable of doing, then I can help the team win,” he said. “It’s important. I don’t want to toot my own horn or anything, but if I play to my ability, I’ll help the team.”
Teammates such as Springer see the impact Barger has had during his impressive season. Springer even name-dropped a pair of his old Astros teammates — lefty sluggers Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez — when it comes to the type of hitter Barger can be.
Those are lofty comparisons, of course, but watching what Barger can do, it’s easy to dream.
Now, it’s up to Barger to keep it going and help keep the Blue Jays rolling.
“I think he understands who he is,” Springer said. “He understands what he can do. It’s kind of just about handling the lumps as they come.”
