Addison Barger was added to the Jays’ 40-man in November 2022 to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. He’s a 24-year-old, left-handed hitting infielder (he’s also played right field).
I don’t know if Addison was a name when I was young or had ever met one. I looked up ‘famous Addison’s, and it was mostly young models/actresses (as well as Addison Russell). I don’t think I knew any of the others. There were some famous Addisons in the 1800’s
He was a sixth-round pick in the 2018 draft (he dropped that far because he was committed to the University of Florida). He didn’t impress with the bat until 2022, but then he hit .308/.378/.555 with 26 home runs in 124 games, mainly with the Dunedin Blue Jays.
He was #3 on our Top Prospect list last year. Tom_M said:
Barger is listed at 6’0” and 210lbs, and looks as physical as that suggests. He’s added over 50lbs since he was drafted, and it mostly looks to be muscle. Combined with a swing that features fierce rotation, he produces exit velocities that are solidly above MLB average and plus at his best. He adjusted his swing in 2023 to trim his pop-up rate and make a little more contact at the cost of some fly balls, but he should still produce significant power numbers in MLB. He has a good approach, but it’s not a contact oriented swing and he’ll likely strike out a fair bit at the top level.
Barger brings enough power and defensive versatility to at least carve out a role as a corner utility guy who can handle second or even short in a pinch. That he’s left handed helps, as he could spell several players on the Jays’ roster and possibly work himself into being the bigger half of a platoon. His ceiling is as a three-true-outcomes slugger who bashes his way to an everyday job in right or at third. He’ll almost certainly spend some time in Toronto this summer, so we’ll find out how he holds up against MLB pitching.
Addison made it to the Jays in late April. He went back to Buffalo after about a week. Then, he was back in mid-June and spent the rest of the year in the majors.
He wasn’t successful, hitting just .197/.250/.351 with 7 home runs, 14 walks and 60 strikeouts in 225 PA.
There were good moments. He and Joey Loperfido went back-to-back in the bottom of the nine on April 23rd against the Angels to pull out a win.
And he had a good July, hitting .259/.310/.593 (in just 29 PA).
In Buffalo, he hit .260/391/.466 with 9 home runs in 57 games.
I’m still a fan. It might take him a bit to figure things out at the major league level, but I think it is worth giving him a shot at-bats.
Defensively, I liked him in right field. And I think it could be a reasonable third-baseman. He showed off his great arm several times
The question is whether the Jays would be willing to give him enough playing time to figure things out. There will be a fair bit of pressure to win this year. There are jobs on the line. Managers/GMs tend not to want to use young players when they feel their jobs are on the line. I remember the end of John Gibbon’s first go with the Jays. He preferred to use Brad Wilkerson and Kevin Mench when he had a perfectly good young Adam Lind available. Cito Gaston took over and, to his credit, started using Lind. Of course, there was no pressure on him.
It will be interesting to see if he can get some playing time. It would help if he got off to a great start.
Steamer predicts he will get 208 PA with a .236/.311/.398 line and 6 home runs.