Blue Jays rookie Addison Barger flashes potential to salvage rocky debut season

After an eventful debut in April, Toronto Blue Jays prospect Addison Barger had a roller coaster of a first season in the big leagues. Luckily, he flashed enough of his potential to salvage his debut campaign in the majors and give fans a glimpse of the player we thought he would be.

The 24-year-old finished the year batting an uninspiring .197/.250/.351, with seven home runs and 28 RBI in 225 plate appearances over 69 MLB games. But those numbers don't tell the full story of Barger's season.

Addison Barger flashes potential to salvage rocky debut season with Blue Jays

He made a couple of trips between Toronto and Triple-A Buffalo in the first half after being unable to gain any traction with a sad-looking .159/.185/.206 slash line in 66 plate appearances. When he got his final call to the big leagues on July 20, he made sure he wouldn't put on a Bisons uniform again.

Over a stretch of 97 plate appearances from July 28 to Aug. 31, Barger hit an above-league-average of .253. While his .289 on-base percentage left something to be desired, he slugged the cover off the ball to a tune of .538. A 10 percent barrel rate and 41.4 percent hard-hit rate led the youngster to six home runs, eight doubles and 19 RBI in his month-long heater.

Locked in at the plate, Barger's development gave us plenty of reason to be optimistic about his future with the Blue Jays. He also gave us his first signature moment in a Blue Jays uniform:

Some will point to his disappointing finish to the 2024 campaign as a reason to hit pause on taking a Barger victory lap. After avoiding a major knee injury in early September, he struggled through the rest of the month. However, his walk rate skyrocketed to 13.1 percent, and he dropped his chase rate to 25 percent (it had previously been 33.2 percent), indicating that perhaps he was working on his approach at the plate.

As Barger told The Athletic's Kaitlyn McGrath, his struggles helped him learn to handle the ups and downs (subscription required).

“The number one thing for me would be just keeping a steady mentality and the whole, not get too down or too high, because it’s a long year, and a lot of the veteran guys do that really well, so that’s something I’ve taken from them, and I think it’s super important," Barger said, per McGrath.

On the defensive side of the ball, Barger split time between the outfield, primarily right field, and third base. He showed off his cannon of an arm, which is more than good enough to play either position in the majors. However, it's hard to envision where he'll end up if he gets a spot on the 26-man roster next season, with the Blue Jays roster in flux this winter and three and a half months of offseason left.