Addison Barger

Bo Bichette To Miss “Multiple Weeks” Due To Calf Strain

By Mark Polishuk | July 20, 2024 at 5:05pm CDT

5:05pm: Schneider told reporters (including MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson) this evening that an MRI revealed a “moderate” calf strain for Bichette and that he will be sidelined for “multiple weeks” due to the issue.

10:57am: Bo Bichette left yesterday’s game due to a right calf strain, and it comes as no surprise that the Blue Jays have now placed the shortstop on the 10-day injured list. Infielder Addison Barger has been called up from Triple-A to take Bichette’s spot on the active roster.

Bichette broke out of the batter’s box after lining out to right field at the end of the sixth inning, but immediately came up limping after a few steps. Last night’s injury was the latest occurrence in what has been a collection of calf injuries for Bichette over the last month, as he spent a minimal 10-day stint on the IL with another strain to his right calf in June. He also left Toronto’s game on July 10 with what was described as a right calf fascia strain, though with the All-Star break looming, the Jays opted to not place Bichette on the IL again, hoping that the time off would allow him to heal up.

Unfortunately, Bichette now again finds himself sidelined, and likely for well beyond a 10-day minimum. Blue Jays manager John Schneider should soon update media on the outcome of Bichette’s MRI, yet even if the MRI was clean, the recurring nature of this calf injury probably means the Jays will opt on the side of caution in giving Bichette plenty of time to fully overcome this issue. This almost surely means that Bichette will still be on the injured list when the trade deadline hits on July 30, all but eliminating the possibility that Toronto could part ways with the former All-Star.

Though it isn’t unheard of for teams to still make offers for injured players if an injury appears to be fairly minor in nature, two calf injuries for Bichette in a month’s time would likely give pause to any potential suitor. From the Jays’ perspective, they’re not going to accept a diminished trade package for a player who (if healthy) is one of their strongest trade chips. Even as it looks more and more apparent that Toronto will be deadline sellers, the team reportedly is still planning to contend in 2025, so their July 30 moves might be limited to pending free agents rather than longer-term core pieces.

Even beyond Bichette’s injuries, his trade value has been lowered by an unexpectedly disastrous 2024 season. Bichette is hitting .222/.275/.320 with four home runs over 331 plate appearances, and his 69 wRC+ is the third-lowest among all qualified hitters in baseball. Even if a low .266 BABIP and a big gap between his wOBA (.264) and his xwOBA (.306) count as some misfortune, Bichette’s power numbers have absolutely cratered from his career norms. His .098 Isolated Power number is almost half the .187 ISO he posted from 2019-23, and his traditionally strong barrels and barrel rates are both well under the league average in 2024.

It is also worth noting that this isn’t entirely a one-year trend for Bichette. His strong 2023 season sputtered to an end thanks to a pair of IL stints in the second half, as Bichette missed time to patellar tendinitis in his right knee and then a right quad strain. Bichette’s first IL stint began on August 1, 2023, and he hit only .254/.292/.402 over his final 130 PA of the 2023 season.

With almost a full year of sample size, it is clear that Bichette simply hasn’t been right since that initial bout of tendinitis last August, and it is an additional concern that all of these injuries have come to his right leg specifically. If Bichette is facing a fairly lengthy (say, a month or so) stay on the injured list anyway with his latest calf problem, it isn’t out of the question that the Blue Jays might just shut him down to get him ready for 2025, since the team won’t be in contention for the remainder of this year.

If the Jays’ next two months indeed become an information-gathering session for 2025, one silver lining to Bichette’s absence could be more playing time for Leo Jimenez at shortstop. Jimenez has hit and fielded well in his small nine-game sample size as a big leaguer, and could become a shortstop of the future if Bichette is traded at some point, or if he leaves in free agency following the 2025 season.

Blue Jays Designate Daniel Vogelbach For Assignment

By Darragh McDonald | June 14, 2024 at 1:00pm CDT

The Blue Jays announced that they have recalled infielder/outfielder Addison Barger, while designated hitter Daniel Vogelbach has been designated for assignment in a corresponding move. The club’s 40-man roster drops to 38.

For a second consecutive Friday, the Jays have cut a hitter struggling in the majors and replaced him with one hitting well in Triple-A as they look to generate some more offense. Infielder/outfielder Cavan Biggio was cut from the roster one week ago, eventually getting traded to the Dodgers, with Spencer Horwitz taking his spot. This time, Vogelbach makes way for Barger.

Vogelbach, 31, is a fairly limited player as he is one of the slowest in the league and generally isn’t trusted defensively. He has appeared in 154 games at first base but hasn’t played the field since 2022 and it was only five innings that year. But he has tantalized clubs with his power from the left side and keen eye at the plate.

In 1,957 career plate appearances to this point, he has drawn walks in 15.1% of them. For reference, league average is typically around 8% or 9% and is at 8.3% this year. He has also hit 81 home runs, with a 30-homer season with the Brewers in 2019, though that was the “juiced ball” season. He also got to double-digit home run tallies in 2022 and 2023 with far fewer plate appearances.

Unfortunately, the results haven’t been there this year. Vogelbach signed a minor league deal with the Jays in the winter and made the Opening Day roster, but has received just 79 plate appearances in over two months on the roster. He was still drawing walks at a decent 11.4% rate but had just one home run, leading to a line of .186/.278/.300. His exit velocity and hard hit rates were still pretty strong but he was hitting the ball on the ground at a 49.1% clip, a career high apart from his eight-game rookie season.

Like with Biggio, the Jays have decided change was needed. Biggio was hitting just .202/.331/.289 when he was nudged off the roster. Horwitz was slashing .335/.456/.514 in Triple-A and has a line of .389/.476/.444 through five games since being recalled.

Barger was recalled for five games earlier this year and currently has a dismal line of .056/.056/.056, but he’s hitting .256/.380/.467 in Triple-A. He has drawn walks 15.2% of the time for the Bisons and also has eight home runs, perhaps giving the Jays some hope he can produce the kind of offense they were hoping to get from Vogelbach.

Even if he can’t quite produce those kinds of results against big league pitchers, he can provide more to the Jays in other facets of the game. During his brief time up with the club, his sprint speed was ranked in the 60th percentile, compared to Vogelbach being in the 2nd percentile. Barger has also played shortstop and the four corner positions for Buffalo this year, giving manager John Schneider far more options for getting him into the lineup.

Vogelbach and Joey Votto were in competition for a job this spring, as both were on minor league deals and looking to serve as a lefty bench bat/designated hitter. Votto got hurt during the spring while Vogelbach hit three home runs in spring contests, which essentially made the decision for the Jays. Now that Vogelbach is off the roster, that could open a path for Votto, but not in the immediate future. After rolling his ankle on an errant bat during the spring after one plate appearance, he’s still not one hundred percent. Schneider told reporters this week that Votto is getting close to playing in games, as relayed by Keegan Matheson on X. But after missing so much time, he’ll effectively have to restart spring training from scratch and will likely need a few weeks to get into form.

The Jays will now have one week to trade Vogelbach or pass him through waivers. There will likely be teams willing to take a chance on his bat, but they will probably wait until Vogelbach clears waivers. He is making a salary of $2MM this year but has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment while keeping that money. Based on his poor results this year, he will probably wind up on the open market and be free to sign with any club. If he gets a roster spot somewhere, that club would only have to pay him the prorated league minimum, with that amount subtracted from what the Jays owe him.

Blue Jays Promote Addison Barger For Major League Debut

By Darragh McDonald | April 24, 2024 at 3:35pm CDT

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.

Blue Jays Notes: Bichette, Vlad, September Call-Ups

By Steve Adams | August 29, 2023 at 10:14am CDT

Blue Jays fans cringed in collective fashion when both Bo Bichette and Matt Chapman exited Sunday’s game due to injuries. Chapman has already been placed on the injured list with a strain in his right hand, while Bichette was out of last night’s lineup due to the quad discomfort that forced him from the prior day’s contest. While the Jays termed his exit precautionary, Bichette underwent an MRI last night, per Keegan Matheson of MLB.com. The team will presumably have an update on the star shortstop’s status today.

Toronto called up journeyman infielder Ernie Clement when Chapman hit the IL and went with him at shortstop and rookie Davis Schneider at third base in yesterday’s win over the Nationals. The 24-year-old Schneider has already popped five homers in his first 48 big league plate appearances, batting .425/.521/.875 in that tiny sample. Schneider has also fanned at a 29.2% rate and is sporting an outlandish .571 BABIP that he won’t sustain, but he’s nevertheless provided a jolt for the Toronto lineup. That arrangement could be in place a bit more regularly if Bichette misses time, although there’s room for the Jays to get creative.

One possibility that’s currently under consideration would be at least occasional time back at the hot corner for first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., it seems. Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet reports that while the Jays aren’t currently planning to start Guerrero at third base in Chapman’s absence, they’re open to using him there late in games as they make substitutions around the diamond. Guerrero has been taking grounders at the hot corner in recent days.

It’s also worth noting that the Jays will soon have two more roster spots to potentially add some depth with Chapman out at least 10 days and Bichette potentially sidelined as well. Rosters are set to expand from 26 to 28 players on Sept. 1, which could clear a path for Toronto to tap further into its minor league system for reinforcements. Kaitlyn McGrath of The Athletic suggests that infielders Addison Barger, Orelvis Martinez and Spencer Horwitz could all be considered for a big league call when rosters expand.

Each of Barger, Martinez and Horowitz is already on the 40-man roster. The former two could benefit the Jays with their versatility, as that pair has experience at each of shortstop, third base and second base. Horwitz has played primarily first base and left field in his professional career.

FanGraphs currently ranks Barger as the game’s No. 36 overall prospect. He’s spent time on the injured list but has turned in a .257/.371/.414 slash in 65 Triple-A games since returning, walking at a hearty 14.6% clip against a 21.1% strikeout rate. He hit .308/.378/.555 between High-A, Double-A and Triple-A last year. Martinez landed on Baseball America’s top-100 list prior to the 2021 and 2022 seasons but saw his stock tumble with a rough year in Double-A last year. The 21-year-old, has bounced back to some extent this season, posting a combined .242/.344/.496 line between Double-A and Triple-A (including a .276/.355/.517 slash at the higher of those two levels). Horwitz went 2-for-8 with a pair of walks in a brief MLB debut earlier this season and has slashed .339/.450/.499 in 476 Triple-A plate appearances, walking (15.8%) more often than he’s struck out (15.1%) in the process.

AL East Notes: Dalbec, Espinal, Barger, Cowser

By Mark Polishuk | May 20, 2023 at 10:25pm CDT

Trade rumors swirled around Bobby Dalbec back in December, and Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe (Twitter link) now writes that the Red Sox are still “taking trade calls on” on the former top-100 prospect. Dalbec entered today’s action with a .286/.403/.551 slash line and six home runs over 119 plate appearances for Triple-A Worcester this season, his best performance yet in his third season of Triple-A ball. Of course, there hasn’t been much question about Dalbec’s ability to hit in the minors, but his MLB output has been much more inconsistent. After a .959 OPS over 92 PA as a rookie in 2020, Dalbec has hit a much more modest .228/.292/.436 slash line over 819 PA since the start of the 2021 season.

Since first and third base are Dalbec’s primary positions, he is blocked by both Triston Casas and superstar Rafael Devers, so the Red Sox have tried Dalbec out as a second baseman, shortstop, and right fielder at the MLB and minor league level in an effort to figure out how to fit his bat into the lineup. An argument could be made that Dalbec might benefit from not just a fresh start on a new team, but perhaps also just settling into his natural spot as a corner infielder on a team with more opportunity at those positions. Dalbec isn’t exactly a youngster any more since he turns 28 in June, but as a post-hype prospect, he could be an interesting trade chip for the Sox to offer, as it looks like they’ll be competitive in at least the wild card hunt.

Blue Jays Notes: Ryu, Barger, Lopez, Lukes

By Steve Adams | March 21, 2023 at 11:37am CDT

Left-hander Hyun Jin Ryu, now nine months out from last summer’s Tommy John surgery, is throwing from 90 to 120 feet and still aiming for a mid-July return to the Blue Jays’ pitching staff, writes Keegan Matheson of MLB.com. He’s throwing off flat ground for now but could progress to mound work by mid-April. The timeline aligns with the goal that Ryu stated back in December, but it’s positive development that he’s progressed through his spring throwing program without setbacks and hasn’t had to push that goal further down the road.

Ryu, who’ll turn 36 later this week, is entering the final season of a four-year, $80MM contract signed prior to the 2020 season. He finished third in AL Cy Young voting during the shortened ’20 campaign and gave the Jays 31 roughly average starts in 2021 before an elbow injury limited him to 27 innings and resulted in surgery last June. If he’s indeed able to return at any point midsummer, he could be a boon to a rotation that currently is hoping for rebounds from fourth and fifth starters Jose Berrios and Yusei Kikuchi. Each of Alek Manoah, Kevin Gausman and offseason signee Chris Bassitt delivered strong results in 2022, and top prospect Ricky Tiedemann is looming as an option at some point in 2023 as well.

Turning to more immediate matters on the roster, the Blue Jays announced last night that they’ve optioned infielder Addison Barger to Triple-A, thinning the race for the team’s final bench spot in the process. Barger, a sixth-round pick in 2018, was selected to the 40-man roster back in November on the heels of a combined .308/.378/.555 showing across three minor league levels. He had a nice Grapefruit League showing, batting .294/.351/.441 in 37 trips to the plate, but the 23-year-old still has just eight regular-season games at the Triple-A level under his belt.

Barger ranks as the club’s No. 4 prospect Baseball America and landed at No. 53 on FanGraphs’ Top 100 prospect rankings heading into the 2023 season. He’s undoubtedly viewed as a key piece for the Jays in the future, but the infield already has veterans Matt Chapman, Bo Bichette and Whit Merrifield lined up from third base to second base, to say nothing of bench options like Santiago Espinal and Cavan Biggio in the mix for at-bats. As such, Barger will head to Buffalo and continue to get regular reps that might not be available to him at the MLB level.

With Barger out of the mix for now, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet tweets that it’s likely either infielder/outfielder Otto Lopez or outfielder Nathan Lukes will claim the team’s final bench spot. Lopez, 24, went 5-for-17 with a homer, a triple and a walk playing for Canada in the World Baseball Classic and is 7-for-15 with a double and a triple in Jays camp this spring. He’s primarily been a middle infielder in the minors but has at least 500 innings in both left field and center field in his professional career. Lukes, who has yet to make his MLB debut, is hitting .278/.342/.389 in 41 spring plate appearances and can play all three outfield spots. He’d give a righty-heavy Toronto lineup another left-handed bat, whereas Lopez is another right-handed stick.

Blue Jays Designate Raimel Tapia, Bradley Zimmer For Assignment

By Anthony Franco | November 15, 2022 at 6:25pm CDT

The Blue Jays have designated outfielders Bradley Zimmer and Raimel Tapia for assignment. Toronto also released left-hander Foster Griffin. In corresponding moves, the Jays selected the contracts of righty Yosver Zulueta and infielders Addison Barger, Spencer Horwitz and Orelvis Martinez.

Tapia landed in Toronto in the Spring Training deal that sent Randal Grichuk to the Rockies. The hope was to more adequately balance an outfield that skewed right-handed with a lefty-swinging contact bat, but Tapia didn’t have a great year. In 433 plate appearances, he hit .265/.292/.380 with seven home runs. He demonstrated his customarily solid bat-to-ball skills, but he rarely walked or hit for much power.

The 28-year-old was eligible for arbitration for a final time this winter, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting him for a notable $5.2MM salary. That always looked likelier than the Jays were hoping to pay for a fourth/fifth outfield type, and today’s designation functions as akin to a non-tender. Toronto can technically trade Tapia in the next few days, but it looks likelier he’ll go unclaimed on waivers and be sent to the open market.

Zimmer also worked as a left-handed bench bat in the outfield. He got into 109 games between Toronto and Philadelphia but only picked up 117 plate appearances. He’s a solid defensive outfielder but has always been very strikeout-prone in the big leagues. That included a 38.5% strikeout rate this season, which featured just a .124/.207/.229 overall mark.

The 29-year-old (30 later this month) had been projected for a $1.3MM arbitration salary. As with Tapia, he’s effectively being non-tendered a few days in advance to clear the 40-man roster spot.

Griffin made just one two-inning relief appearance for the Jays after being acquired from the Royals midseason. The former first-round pick of Kansas City spent much of his tenure with Triple-A Buffalo, working 23 1/3 innings out of the bullpen there. He posted a 2.31 ERA with a solid 24.8% strikeout rate as a Bison.

Turning to the players joining the roster, Martinez and Zulueta were two of the easier calls to keep out of the Rule 5 draft around the league. The former was a high-profile signee out of the Dominican Republic during the 2018-19 international period. He’s appeared among Baseball America’s top 100 overall prospects in each of the past two years, garnering praise for his big power potential. He spent the entire 2022 campaign at Double-A New Hampshire as a 20-year-old but stumbled to a .203/.286/.446 line — albeit with a 30-homer showing that demonstrated his power upside.

Zulueta had a breakout year that saw him traverse four minor league levels. A native of Cuba, he combined for a 3.72 ERA with a huge 33.9% strikeout rate while topping out at Triple-A. Baseball America slotted him fifth in the Toronto organization midseason, praising his four-pitch mix. Zulueta, 25 in January, figures to start next season in Buffalo but could play his way onto the big league roster at some point during the year.

Barger, 23, was a sixth-round selection in the 2018 draft out of a Florida high school. He’s played all around the infield and performed at three minor league levels this year. The left-handed hitter combined for a .308/.378/.555 showing in 526 plate appearances, albeit with higher than average strikeout totals. BA ranked him 18th in the Jays’ system midseason.

Horwitz, 25, went in the 24th round of the 2019 draft out of Radford. He’s outperformed that modest draft stock and now sits on the brink of the majors after combining for a .275/.391/.452 mark in 483 plate appearances at the minors top two levels. He’s primarily a first baseman, putting plenty of pressure on his bat. According to Baseball America, he’s the #13 prospect in the organization.

Show all

Headlines

Addison Barger

Navigation

MLBTR INFO

Connect