Barger’s clutch performances drawing comparisons to former Blue Jays MVP

Through the first 34 games of the season, the Toronto Blue Jays were getting virtually no production out of their players at third base. Ernie Clement, Will Wagner and Addison Barger all split time at the hot corner, and they combined for a .193 batting average and .255 OBP in 176 at-bats.

But on May 7 in a game against the Los Angeles Angels, second baseman Andrés Giménez got hurt, prompting Clement to move to second, and Barger came into the game to play third. In his only at bat of the ballgame, Barger had the second hardest hit of the night with his eighth inning single leaving the bat at 107 mph. Barger hasn’t stopped hitting since then and has been the answer at third base for Toronto over the last three weeks.

He entered that contest against the Angels with an OPS of .468 and is now slugging .625 with an OPS of 1.017. He has six home runs and 29 hits in 88 at-bats, and has been coming up in the clutch over the last week for the Blue Jays with three home runs in the series sweep of the Athletics. While most of the lineup pounded the A’s pitching staff over the weekend, Barger’s three run home run in the first inning on Saturday set the tone for the afternoon, and his three-run home run on Sunday in the bottom of the eighth pushed the Blue Jays ahead to secure the sweep.

Barger also hit a towering home run in their loss to the Phillies on Tuesday night, giving him home runs in four straight games. It’s the first time a Blue Jay has pulled that off since Teoscar Hernandez in 2021. Going into Wednesday’s game, Barger finds himself chasing some history as only three Blue Jays have managed to extend their home run streaks beyond four games; José Bautista (five games, 2014), José Cruz (six games, 2001) and Kendrys Morales (seven games, 2018).

This hot stretch for Barger, who has now seemingly locked down the third base job (while getting reps in the outfield as well) is drawing some hot takes on social media, with some people claiming the Blue Jays have found “the next Josh Donaldson.”

If anything, it’s a flattering comparison for the young Barger as Donaldson is a former American League MVP, winning the award with Toronto in 2015. In four years with the Blue Jays Donaldson accumulated a 19.8 bWAR, hitting 116 home runs with an OPS+ of 148. He also played tremendous defence and was a catalyst for the clubs two postseason appearances in 2015 and ’16, and who can forget his mad dash home to clinch the ALDS against the Rangers in 2016?

Barger still has a long way to go to before he can be fairly anointed as the “next Donaldson” but he’s on the right path as he is putting up numbers that line up with some of today’s biggest stars. His 95.1 average exit velocity ranks fourth in MLB behind Oneil Cruz (97.3), Shohei Ohtani (96.0) and Aaron Judge (95.6). His .982 OPS over the last 30 days is also fourth in the league among third baseman behind Jose Ramirez, Max Muncy and Manny Machado.