Addison Barger was one of the breakout stars for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2025. It’s hard to believe now, but Barger wasn’t a part of the Blue Jays opening roster in 2025.

He was called up on April 15th. After a slow start, he finished the regular season with a .243/.301/.454 slash line. His 21 home runs were the third most on the team, behind only George Springer (32) and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (23).

Barger turned it up to another level in the postseason, particularly in the World Series. He had the third-most hits in the postseason among all players with 22, behind his teammates Ernie Clement (30) and Guerrero (29). 12 of those hits came during the World Series, including his infamous pinch-hit grand slam in Game 1 against the LA Dodgers after spending the night on Davis Schneider’s couch. He had multiple hits in every game against the Dodgers except for Game 2.

Expectations were high for Barger to build off of last season in 2026. But so far, he’s struggled immensely.

Barger did not record a hit in 2026 until Friday’s 5-4 loss against the Chicago White Sox when he was robbed of a home run by Tristan Peters in the top of the second inning. Peters wasn’t able to hang on to the ball, meaning Barger at least got a double. He also had a timely sac fly in the tenth inning of the Blue Jays’ 8-7 win over the Athletics in their second game of the season. The Athletics had taken the lead in the bottom of the tenth. Barger re-tied the game, allowing Clement to walk it off for the Blue Jays in the eleventh.

Aside from those two glimmers of hope, not much has gone Barger’s way. He’s slashing .053/.174/.105 with six strikeouts. To make matters worse, Barger left Sunday’s game against the White Sox with bilateral ankle discomfort after grounding out with the bases loaded in the third inning and has now landed on the IL.

While an injury is not good news for Barger, it’s clear he needs a reset, and this IL stint might give him a chance to do just that.

The Blue Jays were clearly ready to put more trust in his bat in 2026. Each time he’s been a part of the starting lineup, he’s batted cleanup. This isn’t surprising given his ability to hit for power, but so far it hasn’t paid off for the Blue Jays.

While Barger’s start has been disappointing, he has been streaky in the past. After getting called up to the Blue Jays in mid-April last season, he slashed .139/.205/.222 in his first 39 plate appearances. After a stronger middle of the season during which he slashed .281/.333/.551 with 16 home runs, he again struggled towards the end of the regular season. From August 2 until the end of the regular season, he slashed .204/.270/.344.

Barger has been making contact, but it just hasn’t resulted in hits so far. He has six strikeouts in 23 plate appearances—his strikeout rate of 26.1% is only slightly higher than last season (24.1%).

What may be causing Barger some problems is his plate discipline.

He’s swung at 41.7 percent of pitches outside the strike zone, up significantly from 2024 (31.2%) and 2025 (31.1%). In contrast, he’s swinging less on pitches inside the strike zone (58.8% in 2026 vs. 66.3% in 2025). His total swing percentage is similar to last year (47.9% in 2026 vs. 49.2% in 2025), but his choice of which pitches to swing at is worse.

Barger isn’t the only Blue Jays off to a slow start. In fact, most of the lineup is off to a slow start offensively. Barger is one of five Blue Jays batting under .200 so far in 2026, along with Daulton Varsho (.188), Alejandro Kirk (.150), and George Springer (.150).

Although the injury news is not ideal for Barger and the Blue Jays, a quick reset away from the spotlight might do him and the squad some good, given his early struggles.

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