Dodgers Shut Down Brusdar Graterol’s Throwing Program
The Dodgers have halted right-hander Brusdar Graterol‘s throwing program for the time being, manager Dave Roberts announced to the team’s beat last night (X link via Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic). While there’s no new injury or setback of note, Graterol is still feeling discomfort in his arm when throwing and isn’t bouncing back as well as the team had hoped.
Graterol, one of the Dodgers’ top setup options, has been out all season after experiencing shoulder pain during spring training and being diagnosed with inflammation. He’d already been moved to the 60-day IL early in the season, but since the Dodgers opened the season early with their Seoul Series against the Padres, he was still ticketed him for a potential mid-May return. That no longer seems feasible. Roberts didn’t offer an exact timeline but indicated it’d be a “long program” to get Graterol back on a big league mound.
It’s unwelcome news for a Dodger bullpen that ranks 19th in the majors in ERA (4.07), 26th in FIP (4.52) and 16th in SIERA (3.81). Graterol was a major part of the bullpen last season, firing 67 1/3 innings with a pristine 1.20 ERA. The 25-year-old flamethrower picked up 19 holds and seven saves along the way. He fanned just 18.7% of his opponents but also delivered a brilliant 4.7% walk rate and superlative 64.4% ground-ball rate. In four seasons since the Dodgers acquired him from the Twins in exchange for Kenta Maeda, he’s pitched 173 2/3 innings with a 2.69 earned run average.
The Dodgers have a handful of relievers who are throwing well but the rest of the bullpen has struggled extensively. Closer Evan Phillips (0.93 ERA, six saves), setup man Daniel Hudson (2.45 ERA, five holds) and long man Ryan Yarbrough (3.52 ERA, 23 innings) have all had strong starts to their season. Lefty Alex Vesia has allowed only three earned runs in 12 1/3 innings (2.19 ERA), but he’ll be hard-pressed to sustain that pace based on his dismal 19.6% walk rate thus far. Righties Joe Kelly, Ryan Brasier and Michael Grove are the only other L.A. relievers with even nine innings pitched this season; all three have ERAs of 5.59 or worse.
The Dodgers have already used 15 different relievers on the young season. No team in baseball has used more, although both the Mets and Astros are also at 15 apiece. The continuity and stability afforded by a healthy Graterol would be a boon to Roberts’ relief corps, but it seems that’s a ways off from being a realistic possibility. The Dodgers tend to explore the trade market for bullpen help just about every summer — as do most contenders — and if Graterol ends up facing an especially lengthy absence, that’ll only add to their urgency.
The Opener: Pham, Seager, Crawford
With 15% of the 2024 season in the books, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Pham opt-out decision:
When the White Sox signed veteran outfielder Tommy Pham to a minor league deal earlier this month, the deal came with a stipulation (per The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal) that Pham, 36, could opt out of his deal with the club if not selected to the major league roster by today. Chicago will have to clear a spot on the 40-man and active rosters to accommodate Pham’s addition. The veteran has made it into just three games in the minor leagues to this point, having gone 3-for-13 with a double and three strikeouts at the Triple-A level.
While he’s had minimal time to build up for the regular season, Pham has been a roughly league average corner bat going back to his 2019 season with the Rays. Over the past five seasons, he’s slashed .247/.337/.407 with a 105 wRC+, including a 2023 campaign that saw him slash .256/.328/.446 with a wRC+ of 110. Should the White Sox decide not to select Pham’s contract today, it’s certainly possible that he could find interest with another big league club that has suffered early-season outfield injuries, such as the Cardinals or Cubs.
2. Seager exits following HBP:
Rangers shortstop Corey Seager exited yesterday’s game prior to the eighth inning after being struck in the shin by a pitch in the seventh. As noted by MLB.com’s injury tracker, club manager Bruce Bochy told reporters following the game that Seager’s shin had “swelled up pretty good” following his removal from the game before indicating that the club intended to check on him today to determine next steps. Seager has hit just .256/.347/.313 (93 wRC+) to this point in the season but stormed to a second-place finish in AL MVP voting last year after an incredible campaign with the bat. Should Seager miss time, utility infielder Ezequiel Duran appears to be the most likely candidate to replace him in the lineup, but it’s not yet clear whether there’s a notable injury for the two-time World Series MVP.
3. Crawford to undergo MRI:
Seager isn’t the only AL West shortstop dealing with something, as J.P. Crawford of the Mariners was scratched from yesterday’s game due to an oblique issue he felt during batting practice prior to the game. Manager Scott Servais told reporters (including Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times) following last night’s loss to the Rangers that the club is not yet certain about the severity of Crawford’s ailment, and that he’s set to be sent for an MRI to before they determine next steps. Crawford, 29, has had a slow start on offense (84 wRC+ in 98 trips to the plate) but has fashioned himself into an above-average all-around shortstop in recent years, hitting .258/.350/.380 (112 wRC+) dating back to 2021. Utilityman Dylan Moore started at shortstop for the club last night in Crawford’s stead and could see more time at the position should he require a stint on the injured list, with Luis Urias and Sam Haggerty among the club’s other possibilities on the 40-man roster. Ryan Bliss, a 2021 second-rounder acquired from the D-backs in last year’s Paul Sewald trade, is top minor league option that’s not on the 40-man roster.
MLBTR Podcast Mailbag: Cardinals’ Troubles, Jazz Chisholm, Bad Umpiring And More
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors for a mailbag episode. We spent the entire show answering questions from listeners, including…
- Which of the division leaders have the most or least staying power? (3:10)
- What does it look like if the Cardinals are selling at the deadline? (11:20)
- Do the Cardinals have a problem with coaching or player development? (18:50)
- When the Braves traded Marco Gonzales and Max Stassi, why did they trade for a player to be named later or cash when they were paying most of the salaries for both players? (22:35)
- Will the Marlins trade Jazz Chisholm Jr. if they are out of contention in July? (24:45)
- You’re designing a pitcher in a lab to succeed in today’s game and mitigate the likelihood of an injury. What is their profile and what pitches do they throw? (28:35)
- Why isn’t there more umpire accountability? (33:30)
- Why are the Pirates committed to hitting coach Andy Haines? (35:45)
- Compare the cost of a Falcon 9 launch to the Javier Báez contract. How much could the Tigers save? (38:55)
- Should the Tigers send Parker Meadows down and should the Giants release Mike Yastrzemski? (40:05)
Check out our past episodes!
- Free Agent Power Rankings, Shohei Ohtani’s Stolen Money And The A’s Moving To Sacramento – listen here
- Reviewing Our Free Agent Predictions And Future CBA Issues – listen here
- Baseball Is Back, Will Smith’s Extension, Mike Clevinger And Jon Berti – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Royals Release Mike Brosseau
The Royals released infielder Mike Brosseau from his minor league contract last night. The move was announced by Kansas City’s Triple-A club in Omaha this morning.
Brosseau, 30, signed with Kansas City over the offseason. He appeared in 12 games this spring, hitting .156 without an extra-base knock. Those struggles carried into the regular season with Omaha. In 33 plate appearances with the Storm Chasers, he posted a .107/.212/.143 slash.
That’s clearly not the way in which Brosseau wanted to start his season. Still, he has enough of a track record that he might be able to find another minor league deal elsewhere. Brosseau appeared in the majors in each season between 2019-23. He was an above-average hitter off the bench for the Rays over his first two years and produced a solid .255/.344/.418 line in 70 games for the Brewers two seasons ago. Last year was a challenge, as he hit .205/.256/.397 in 29 games before Milwaukee released him. Brosseau subsequently landed with the NPB’s Chiba Lotte Marines but only mustered a .191/.218/.297 slash in Japan.
Despite his recent struggles, Brosseau has a .249/.344/.455 mark over parts of five Triple-A seasons. While he hasn’t hit righties well in the majors, he’s managed a .265/.326/.464 line and 17 homers in 383 MLB plate appearances against left-handed pitching. That could attract attention from teams looking for righty-hitting infield depth.
Jared Walsh Elects Free Agency
First baseman Jared Walsh has cleared outright waivers and elected free agency, according to the transaction tracker at MLB.com. The Rangers had designated the former All-Star for assignment over the weekend.
Walsh broke camp with Texas while Nathaniel Lowe was sidelined by an oblique injury. He collected hits in seven of his first eight games before falling into a slump. In 60 total plate appearances, Walsh hit .226/.317/.321 with one home run and a pair of doubles. He struck out 21 times, a huge 35% clip. Once Lowe made his return, Texas squeezed Walsh off the roster.
It has been three years since Walsh was an impact hitter for the Angels. He followed up a huge showing in the shortened season with a 29-homer campaign in 2021. He slumped to a .215/.269/.374 line the following year, striking out at a 30.4% clip in the process. Towards the end of the ’22 season, Walsh underwent surgery to address thoracic outlet syndrome.
While he was able to get back on the field, the left-handed hitter hasn’t rediscovered his previous form. He punched out nearly 39% of the time in 116 MLB plate appearances last season, leading the Angels to cut him loose. Since the start of 2022, he’s a .200/.263/.352 hitter in 169 games. He’s hit 20 homers in that time but has a 32.4% strikeout rate.
Walsh can look for other opportunities now that he’s back on the open market. The Red Sox are a speculative fit after losing Triston Casas to a broken rib, though they’re reportedly considering bringing C.J. Cron back to the organization. The Rockies are without a clear timeline for Kris Bryant to return from a back issue, while the Astros have gotten very little production out of their first base combination of José Abreu and Jon Singleton.
Rockies, Tyler Danish Agree To Minor League Contract
The Rockies have signed Tyler Danish to a minor league deal, as first reflected on the MLB.com transaction log. He has been assigned to Triple-A Albuquerque. According to MLB.com’s Thomas Harding (on X), the right-hander will start for the Isotopes tomorrow.
Danish had just signed with the Mexican League’s Olmecas de Tabasco last week. He started once, tossing six innings of one-run ball with four strikeouts and two walks. Colorado was evidently impressed with the 29-year-old’s form, as they signed him after that lone start. He’ll apparently get a chance to continue working out of the rotation in affiliated ball. Danish has worked almost exclusively from the bullpen since 2017, when he was in Triple-A with the White Sox.
Chicago initially selected Danish in the second round of the 2013 draft. He made cameos with the White Sox between 2016-18 but didn’t get his first extended MLB opportunity until 2022. After signing a minor league contract with the Red Sox, Danish logged 40 1/3 innings over 32 relief outings in Boston. He worked to a 5.13 ERA with a below-average 18.5% strikeout percentage, although he showed solid control and kept the ball on the ground at a solid 47.2% clip.
Danish hasn’t reached the majors since the Red Sox waived him at the conclusion of the ’22 season. He signed successive minor league deals with the Yankees and Nationals a year ago. Danish spent a couple months with Washington’s Triple-A affiliate, where he posted a 3.72 ERA in 29 innings out of the bullpen. That solid run prevention figure wasn’t supported by middling strikeout and walk numbers, though, and Washington decided against calling him up when he triggered an opt-out in his deal last July. He remained on the open market until his cameo in the Mexican League served as a springboard for his next minor league chance.
Colorado has had a predictably rough rotation. No team has gotten a worse ERA from their starting staff than the Rox’s 6.29 mark. Opening Day starter Kyle Freeland recently suffered an elbow strain that’ll cost him upwards of a month. That pushed Peter Lambert from long relief to the rotation, where he joins Austin Gomber, Cal Quantrill, Ryan Feltner and offseason pickup Dakota Hudson. Righty Noah Davis might’ve been the next man up, but he recently suffered a shoulder strain and is going on the minor league injured list (as reflected on the MLB.com injury tracker).
Marlins To Move A.J. Puk Back To Bullpen
Marlins left-hander A.J. Puk was in the Marlins’ rotation to start this year before landing on the injured list but he will be moved back to the bullpen when he’s healthy. Manager Skip Schumaker passed the news along to Christina De Nicola of MLB.com today.
It’s not necessarily a shock that the Marlins are making this decision since the plan to move Puk to the rotation got off to a horrible start. His first four outings resulted in 14 earned runs allowed over 13 2/3 innings. He struck out 12 opponents but gave out walks to 17 of them before landing on the IL over the weekend due to fatigue in his throwing shoulder.
There was some logic to the plan, as Puk was once a highly-touted prospect in the Athletics’ system who was seen as a future major league starter. However, he required shoulder surgery in 2020 and then also had some other health issues, including a strained left biceps and nerve irritation in his left elbow.
The A’s decided to move Puk to a relief role after those injuries and the initial results were good. In 2022, Puk tossed 66 1/3 innings out of their bullpen with a 3.12 earned run average, striking out 27% of batters faced. They flipped him to the Marlins for JJ Bleday prior to 2023, and Puk continued to have success as a reliever in Miami. His ERA ticked up slightly to 3.97 but his strikeout rate also jumped to 32.2%.
After two years of success as a reliever, it’s understandable why the Marlins thought the time was right for him to see if he could move back to the rotation. From a team standpoint, they had seen their rotation depth thinned out by the trades of Pablo López and Jake Eder, as well as the Tommy John surgery of Sandy Alcántara. Since moving Puk to the rotation, that depth was further thinned by Eury Pérez also requiring Tommy John, while Edward Cabrera and Braxton Garrett battled less-significant injuries.
But the poor results and Puk’s shoulder injury seem to have convinced the Marlins to give up on the experiment, at least for now. He’ll move back to the bullpen when he returns from the IL and will hopefully re-establish himself in that role.
The Marlins can control Puk for two more seasons beyond the current campaign. Given their poor start this season, they are trending towards being sellers at the deadline this summer. Puk could perhaps be made available but the extra years of control also mean that they could decide to hang onto him.
The Miami rotation currently consists of Cabrera, Jesús Luzardo, Trevor Rogers and Ryan Weathers. Tonight’s starter is Sixto Sánchez but he’s unlikely to give the club much length since he’s mostly been pitching single-inning appearances this year and hardly pitched at all in the three previous years due to ongoing shoulder problems.
Schumaker seems open-minded about Sánchez taking the ball again, telling De Nicola it depends on how things go tonight, but Garrett is also nearing a return. Per De Nicola, the lefty is planned for four innings and/or 60 pitches in a Triple-A rehab start on Friday.
The Marlins’ Historically Feeble Catching Corps
The Marlins have been searching for a long-term answer at catcher since trading J.T. Realmuto to the Phillies back in February of 2019. The organizational hope at the time was that Jorge Alfaro, acquired alongside righty Sixto Sanchez and lefty Will Stewart in that very trade, could step up and fill the role. That never really came to fruition, and the Fish have cycled through him, Jacob Stallings and a long list of veteran role players in an effort to hold things over at the position.
It’s never gone particularly well, but it’s also never been as bad as it is right now. The Marlins opened the season with glove-first Nick Fortes and trade acquisition Christian Bethancourt lined up to shoulder the workload behind the plate. The results are quite literally some of the worst in history. Through the Marlins’ first 25 games — more than 15% of their season — they’ve gotten exactly five hits from their catchers. All have come from Fortes, who has three singles and a pair of doubles on the year. He’s 5-for-46 at the plate. Bethancourt is hitless in 23 plate appearances. Jhonny Pereda, recently selected from Triple-A Jacksonville to replace Bethancourt when he hit the IL due to a viral illness, is 0-for-5 to begin his big league career. (Miami reinstated Bethancourt from the injured list today and optioned Pereda back to Jacksonville.)
Overall, Marlins catchers own a staggering .068/.117/.096 slash line on the season. That obviously places them at the bottom of the league; by measure of wRC+, Miami catchers have been 138% worse than league-average (-38). Since Realmuto left the Marlins, their catchers have combined for a .223/.285/.345 batting line in 2734 plate appearances.
The Fish likely knew the catcher’s spot would be a weak point in the lineup. Fortes hit just .204/.263/.299 in 323 plate appearances last season but is a plus defender behind the dish who was credited as being five runs better than average by both Defensive Runs Saved and Statcast in just 774 innings in 2023.
Bethancourt has more power (11 homers, .156 ISO last season) but hit just .225/.254/.381 thanks to a lofty 27.4% strikeout rate and paltry 3.9% walk rate. He’s a rocket-armed defender who’s thrown out one-third of attempted base thieves in his career and ranked in the 95th percentile of MLB catchers for his pop time behind the plate last season, however. True to form, he’s thrown out two of the three runners who’ve run against him this season.
Bethancourt is also likely a favorite of Miami president of baseball operations Peter Bendix, who was the Rays’ GM when Tampa Bay acquired Bethancourt from the A’s last year and who quickly acquired Bethancourt in a trade after the Guardians claimed him off waivers from the Rays.
At the time of that trade, it appeared likely to be one of multiple additions for the Fish. Bendix said shortly after being hired that it’d be “ideal” to acquire multiple catchers over the course of the offseason, recognizing that it was an area of organizational weakness. In the most literal sense possible, the Marlins accomplished that goal; Bethancourt was acquired via trade, and the aforementioned Pereda was signed as a minor league free agent. It’s hard to imagine that a cash swap and a minor league signing were the goal at the time of those comments from Bendix, however.
Marlins ownership clearly didn’t give the front office much to work with in terms of financial firepower this offseason. The team’s only major league free agent signing was a one-year, $5MM deal for Tim Anderson. The Fish made little to no effort to re-sign Jorge Soler after he opted out of the final year of his contract — and that’s according to Soler himself. Even on the eve of Opening Day, the Marlins were still trimming payroll, shipping utilityman Jon Berti to the Yankees in exchange for a pair of minor league outfielders.
The Marlins clearly believe they’ll get more offense out of Fortes and Bethancourt — a low bar to clear thus far in the season — as they’ve made no effort to augment the position thus far. Veteran Eric Haase and his modest $1MM salary passed through waivers unclaimed in late March. When the Giants designated Joey Bart for assignment, the Pirates acquired him in exchange for a relief prospect they drafted in the eighth round last year. Veterans Francisco Mejia (Brewers) and Curt Casali (Cubs) both signed minor league deals with other clubs after the season began.
Outside of Bart (a long shot), none of those names was likely to emerge as a long-term option. They’re generally short-term stopgaps at best and future DFA candidates themselves at worst. But given the total dearth of production the Marlins have received from the catching position this year, even a short-term stopgap seems like a wise target — particularly since the farm isn’t likely to produce any immediate help.
None of Miami’s top-tier prospects are catchers. Will Banfield is the most highly regarded of the bunch, ranking 16th in their system at Baseball America and 23rd at MLB.com. Banfield, however, carries a similar profile to that of Fortes — a plus defender with questionable offensive skills. He’s off to a woeful .161/.203/.304 start in Triple-A and has struck out in an eye-popping 49.2% of his 59 plate appearances. Joe Mack, whom the Marlins selected 31st overall in 2021, is another glove-first option who’s further down the ladder. He hit just .218/.295/.287 in High-A last year, though he did rip through pitching at that same level this year (.347/.467/.561) and earn a promotion to Double-A in the process.
Fortes, Bethancourt and Pereda won’t keep floundering at this severe a level, but none of that trio is likely to emerge as a solid offensive contributor either. There was inherent risk in entering the season with a pair of backstops who sport career wRC+ marks of 69 (Bethancourt) and 70 (Fortes). Things have gone worse than anyone could’ve reasonably expected, but it was always a possibility that the Fish would be rostering one of the least-productive catching tandems in the sport — if not the worst. The lack of any meaningful effort to address the deficiency is perplexing but feels like something that can and will be addressed via the trade market — whether at this year’s deadline or in the offseason.
Miami isn’t going to go out and trade prospects for an established veteran — not when their season is all but lost before the end of April — but if and when the Marlins begin selling off veterans of their own, targeting some upper-level catching help wouldn’t be a surprising outcome.
Cubs To Place Cody Bellinger On IL With Fractured Rib, Recall Pete Crow-Armstrong
3:55pm: Bellinger technically has two cracked ribs, Counsell tells Jesse Rogers of MLB.com, though there’s still no timeline for his absence.
3:25pm: The Cubs are going to place outfielder Cody Bellinger on the injured list due to a fractured rib, per Robert Murray of FanSided, relaying words from manager Craig Counsell on 670 The Score. Fellow outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong will be recalled in a corresponding move.
Bellinger crashed into the wall at Wrigley Field last night while attempting to make a catch and was later removed. The club announced that he had a right rib contusion with Counsell saying after the game that the initial x-rays came back negative. It would appear that further testing has revealed a fracture and Bellinger will require a stint on the injured list to heal up.
It’s unclear at this point exactly how much time Bellinger will need to heal this fracture but the club will likely provide more information today or in the coming days. Either way, it’s an unfortunate blow for the club as Bellinger was just starting to heat up at the plate.
He hit .167/.270/.296 through his first 14 contests but his line in his past eight games was .333/.412/.700. Instead of building on that momentum, he’ll now have to sit out while dealing with this rib injury for some unknown amount of time.
For the Cubs, they already have several pitchers on the injured list and today’s news will leave them doubly shorthanded in the outfield. Seiya Suzuki went on the IL last week due to an oblique strain and is looking at an absence of about a month or so.
Those injuries will open the door for Crow-Armstrong to get another shot in the majors. He’s long been considered an excellent defender but with less certainty about his offense. He got his first taste of the majors late last year but hit just .000/.176/.000 through his first 19 plate appearances. He’s also been struggling in Triple-A so far this year, with a line of .203/.241/.392 in 83 plate appearances down there.
Despite the lack of offense lately, Crow-Armstrong might get a decent run of playing time in center while Bellinger is out. As mentioned, he should at least provide the Cubs with strong glovework, but the hitting will be more of a question mark. Ideally, he could get back to the form he showed prior to his promotion last year, when he hit .283/.365/.511 between Double-A and Triple-A. Some combination of Ian Happ, Mike Tauchman and Alexander Canario will also be in the mix for outfield playing time, with Patrick Wisdom heading out to the grass on some occasions as well.
For Bellinger personally, this injury will possibly put a dent in his plans to return to the open market in search of the long-term contract he didn’t find this winter. Though he hit .307/.356/.525 for the Cubs last year while also providing strong outfield defense, it seems that teams around the league were still hesitant about his injury-induced struggles in previous seasons. He required shoulder surgery after the 2020 season and hit just .193/.256/.355 over the two subsequent campaigns.
Even though his results were good last year, he also spent some time on the injured list due to a left knee contusion. Even when he returned from the IL, the Cubs kept him at first base for a while to limit the wear and tear on him, as opposed to running him out to the more demanding position of center field.
The bounceback in 2023 wasn’t enough to get Bellinger the mega deal he was likely hoping to secure, and he instead returned to the Cubs on a three-year deal that allows him to opt out after each season. After inking that deal, the ideal scenario would have seen Bellinger stay healthy and productive for the whole year, therefore casting aside some of the doubts about his health and long-term viability. Each day that he spends on the injured list this year will limit his ability to shift the narrative before deciding whether to trigger his opt-out at the end of the season.
Blue Jays Promote Addison Barger For Major League Debut
The Blue Jays announced that outfielder Kevin Kiermaier has been placed on the 10-day injured list with left hip flexor inflammation. Infielder/outfielder Addison Barger was recalled in a corresponding move and will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game. Johnny Giunta of the Gate 14 Podcast reported Barger’s promotion prior to the official announcement.
Kiermaier was removed from last night’s game with flexor discomfort in his left hip. He underwent surgery on that hip in July of 2022 while with the Rays, spending the rest of that season on the injured list.
He managed to bounce back from that procedure and stay largely healthy with the Jays in 2023. He got into 129 games last year, just the third time in his career that he hit that tally and only the second since 2015. That led him and the Jays to reconnect on yet another one-year deal, though his 2024 season has been rough so far. He’s hit .193/.246/.246 through 62 plate appearances and will now land on the shelf to rehab this injury. It’s unclear how long the Jays expect him to be out of action.
Thankfully for the Jays, they have another excellent defensive center fielder who can step in. Like Kiermaier, Daulton Varsho is known for his strong glovework out on the grass/turf but he’s been in good form with the bat this year. He’s hit six home runs in his last 11 games and is slashing .250/.325/.569 on the year overall. He’s spent more time in left field with Kiermaier in center but will now slide over and take the bulk of the playing time up the middle.
The injury will open up room for Barger to make his major league debut. Now 24, he was a sixth-round selection of the Jays back in 2018 but launched himself onto the prospect map in 2022. That year, he went from High-A to Double-A to Triple-A, hitting 26 home runs and slashing .308/.378/.555. After that season, the Jays added him to their 40-man roster to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft and Baseball America ranked him the #4 prospect in the club’s system.
2023 was a bit of a setback, with Barger missing time due to an elbow injury. He only got into 88 Triple-A games and hit a diminished .250/.353/.403 in that time. He seems to be healthy and back on track here in 2024, as he’s currently slashing .314/.435/.586 for the year. He has three home runs and is walking almost as much as he’s striking out, a 16.5% rate of free passes compared to a 17.6% rate of punchouts.
Barger has played all around the infield but has also seen increasing time in right field over the past two seasons, a natural fit for him since he’s considered to have an excellent throwing arm. With Varsho in center, perhaps George Springer moves from right to left on occasion, or Barger simply helps out in left field. If players like Davis Schneider, Cavan Biggio, Ernie Clement or Isiah Kiner-Falefa spend more time in the outfield, Barger can factor into the infield mix instead.
The left-handed bat of Barger will also be a good fit for a fairly righty-heavy lineup. With Kiermaier on the IL, the primary lefties for the Jays are just Varsho and Biggio. Daniel Vogelbach is also on the roster but has been in a fairly narrow role due to his limited defensive value. With Justin Turner the primary designated hitter, Vogelbach has made just three starts as the DH this year, in addition to a few pinch-hitting appearances.