Blue Jays receive disappointing injury update on Addison Barger

Last week, it appeared as though the Toronto Blue Jays were going to get the services of Addison Barger back relatively soon. As Mitch Bannon of The Athletic reported that, had everything had gone to plan, Barger would have gotten into rehab games starting last Thursday and would likely have rejoined the Blue Jays some time this week. However, the 26-year-old outfielder experienced some type of soreness during his recovery that prevented him from undertaking his rehab assignment, according to Blue Jays manager John Schneider.

That news went from bad to worse for Barger. In addition to the elbow injury that he has been recovering from, the Blue Jays' outfielder has an additional issue with a stress reaction (small fracture) in his back. As a result, Barger will be shut down for at least a couple more weeks.

The Blue Jays will have to do without their breakout hitter from 2025 much longer than expected

For a Blue Jays team that has been struggling, they were certainly looking forward to getting a boost to their lineup from the 26-year-old slugger. They had lost six straight games after reaching .500 early last week before finally getting back into the win column on Monday (Jun. 30). Yes, when Barger was healthy this year, he may have struggled to a .045 average, .305 OPS, with just two runs scored, one double and two RBIs in 22 total at-bats. But with only nine games under his belt this season, that is too small a sample size to conclude that he would have been in for a down year for 2026.

After all, Barger broke through in 2025 to become a significant part of the Blue Jays offense when he posted a .756 OPS, with 61 runs scored, 32 doubles, 21 home runs and 74 RBIs in 135 total games played. In doing so, he became a full-time regular as the season progressed and was a key piece during Toronto’s magical postseason run to the World Series.

Barger managed to compile a .367 batting average, 1.025 OPS, along with eight runs scored, four doubles, three home runs and nine RBIs in 17 playoff games, including hitting close to .500 with a 1.200+ OPS during the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Any momentum that Barger might have had entering the 2026 MLB season has been deflated with his run-in with ailments so far this year. He would suffer a sprained ankle back in early April, followed by right elbow inflammation as a result of a spectacular defensive play in early May, and now the stress reaction in his back just recently during his rehab in June. The Blue Jays will now need to do without Barger even longer than expected.

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