Barger on the bump? Blue Jays rookie has Plan B

TORONTO — Addison Barger is currently working on Plan A, but he’s one of the rare major leaguers who just might have a Plan B if things don’t work out in the batter’s box.

We’ve seen the cannon from third base and the outfield, as he’s able to change games and cut down gambling runners one seed at a time.

Thanks to the elite arm that the 24-year-old owns, he’s also daydreamed of what he could do on the mound on occasion.

In fact, Barger has toed the rubber in the off-season from time to time, and he can apparently claim a threshold that even very few MLB pitchers can — triple digits on the radar gun.

“That’s me ripping it, I have to try to get there,” Barger said while kicking back in the home side dugout at Rogers Centre. “It’s not an easy 100, but if I really wanted to I could condition my arm and put more time into it and I think I could even throw harder than that.”

Easy or not, the fact Barger can claim 100 on the gun maybe isn’t all that surprising.

But his teammates do want proof at some point.

“Really? I didn’t know that,” Kevin Gausman said with a raised eyebrow. “I don’t know about 100. I don’t know if I believe 100. You wouldn’t lie about something like that, right? There’s gotta be video proof. If someone’s throwing 100, someone takes out a phone.”

Statcast’s arm strength leaderboard, which averages out the top five per cent of throws for third basemen and the top 10 per cent for outfielders, already has Barger near the top.

Overall, his arm sits fifth in baseball with a 96.4 mph average and a max of 100.6.

“It’s a difference maker,” Gausman noted.

The top arm in baseball per Statcast’s metrics is Colorado Rockies outfielder Nolan Jones at 98.2 mph, with Fernando Tatis Jr.’s cannon just behind Barger in sixth spot at 95.7.

League average at Barger’s two most common positions, third base and right field, are 85.7 mph and 89.3 mph, respectively.

Barger beats the average by a wide margin, and it’s evident with the eye test, too.

“It’s different,” said Spencer Horwitz, who’s had an up-close experience with Barger’s arm throughout their minor-league journey. “Most position players have some sort of run to their ball when they throw it across the infield, just because it dies. His just stays as true as it can and even feels like it goes up sometimes. When he’s got a deep throw and he lets it eat, it definitely holds pretty good.

“I remember in Bluefield, I think he was about 19 or 20. He was playing second or short and it was one of the first days, I just got to pro ball, didn’t know who he was, didn’t know anything about it. I’m catching balls at first and I’m like, ‘Who the heck is this kid just chucking it at me? This guy needs to relax.’ I learned that’s just his arm, that’s who he is.”

Barger’s first invite to spring training a couple years ago gave the coaching staff their first look.

“We heard about his arm and then you see it and you’re like, ‘Wow, OK, that’s real,’” manager John Schneider recalled. “Last year, we were having him work with Matt Chapman individually and having both of them throw across the diamond even Chappy was like ‘Oh, OK.’”

It’s highly unlikely Barger will ever need to seriously consider his fallback plan, but baseball can provide unexpected twists and turns, which keeps the idea in the back of his head.

He wouldn’t be alone. Many have tried, and some have even succeeded.

Sean Doolittle famously made the switch after reaching Triple-A as a noted hitting prospect before getting hurt and transitioning into a dominant closer with upper-90s heat from the left side.

Former Blue Jays outfielder Anthony Gose is maybe for some a more familiar name who’s tried the switch, with varying levels of success over the last few years.

“This was my backup plan, being a pitcher,” Gausman laughed. "I’ll be honest, I wanted to be a right fielder. I just couldn’t hit. It died pretty early, probably sophomore year of high school.

“I don’t think Barger’s going to have any problem hitting. He’s definitely gotten better since he’s come up.”

Gausman’s assessment is on point.

First recalled from Triple-A Buffalo on April 24, Barger’s initial struggles and swing-and-miss issues were apparent.

On July 28, Barger was slashing .156/.182/.203 and had not yet hit a home run through his first 67 trips to the plate.

But something started to click in the month of August, and Barger’s slash line since is .239/.282/.505, including an all-important seven home runs across 117 plate appearances.

His 118 wRC+ shows he’s starting to produce at an above average clip thanks to his power, even if the plate approach is still a bit ragged at times.

After using a leg kick the last few years to shine up his prospect status and reach the big leagues, Barger ditched it and is undergoing some swing changes that are a work in progress.

That’s not easy to do anywhere, let alone at the major-league level.

“The focus has been just simplifying things and trying to be as efficient as possible and that’s been eliminating some of the bigger moves I’ve done in the past in hopes of seeing the ball longer, making better swing decisions and just barrelling up the ball more,” Barger explained.

“It’s been really hard. Physically and mentally it’s hard because there’s a lot of doubt whether I should change or not, something that’s worked for me in the past. But I think it’s crazy to just doing the same thing and expect it to work. At some point, it might be time to make some changes. So I just think I hit that breaking point and was willing to try some things and kind of experiment, even though it’s at the big-league level which makes it harder to experiment.”

Barger’s future is going to be as a position player, but some of the early struggles did give him thoughts about Plan B.

“I think it puts me at some ease mentally,” Barger said. “I love baseball and I want to do this job as long as I can so if there’s another way to do it that’s reasonable I think it’s a good option. I think I have the arm and it’s something I can work even more on to get up on the bump eventually.”

Despite the obvious arm talent, pitching is another story altogether, one that might never get written in any form but the one you’re reading.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he could do that,” Schneider said of the 100-mph claim. “He’s one of the few guys that if it doesn’t work out with the bat you say give it a shot on the mound. He’s got a cannon.

“Hopefully, he keeps it on the back burner for a while, but he would be a really, really, really hard-throwing pitcher.”