1, 2, 3! Barger puts on outfield clinic with trio of assists

TORONTO -- Seven pitchers combined to throw the ball 230 times on Friday night at Rogers Centre, but none of them touched Addison Barger's fastest throw on the radar gun.

Barger completely took over the Blue Jays’ 3-1 win over the Mariners with his cannon from right field, and that cannon just kept firing.

With three throws spread across the fourth and fifth innings, Barger cut down two runners himself and helped with a third, snuffing out any sense of the Mariners’ momentum over and over again.

“I love throwing the baseball,” Barger said after the win. “I don’t know if it’s confidence or just something I love to do, but it’s probably my favorite part of the game.”

Coming on a Friday night in front of a sold-out crowd, this wasn’t just great baseball, it was the best entertainment in the city.

“The boys are juiced. We’re super connected,” winning pitcher Bowden Francis said. “From the coaching staff and everyone down, it’s a different feel.”

Barger’s three outfield assists make him the first to pull off the hat trick since Mark Canha on July 23, 2023, and the first Blue Jays player to do so in nearly 46 years, stretching all the way back to Rick Bosetti on May 28, 1979.

Only 12 players in MLB history have recorded four outfield assists in a game, which still stands as the record, with seven of those coming in the Modern Era. That hasn’t been done since Wally Berger for the Boston Braves on April 27, 1931.

Among outfield assists in Major League Baseball this season, these three throws ranked as the hardest, third hardest and seventh hardest throws.

First throw: 93.6 mph

This was the defensive highlight of the game in the fourth inning, when Cal Raleigh pulled what looked like a double into the corner. After Barger played that hop off the wall, he pivoted and fired a strike to Bo Bichette at second in time to get Raleigh for the second out.

Credit an assist to defensive maestro Andrés Giménez, who recognized just how strong a throw this was in the air and let it skip past him instead of cutting it off. Barger was just getting warmed up, though.

Second throw: 96 mph

Later in the inning, Randy Arozarena stood on first when Luke Raley lofted a double into the right-field corner. This one landed in a similar spot to Raleigh’s earlier, but it didn’t get to the wall as quickly, so Raley had time to slide into second base safe ... barely.

Barger got the ball back into the infield so quickly, though, that by the time Arozarena’s right foot touched third base and he rounded for home, the ball was almost in Bichette’s glove already. Arozarena would have been out by 45 feet, so by the time the ball got to Alejandro Kirk at home plate, the only option was a mad scramble.

It felt like Barger bullied the play, like a defensive tackle in football who blows up the middle of the offensive line and lets the havoc pour through.

Third throw: 98.8 mph

This one was the showstopper … and Rowdy Tellez never had a chance.

With Tellez standing on second, Ben Williamson lofted a high fly ball down the right-field line that Barger settled underneath. To everyone’s surprise, Tellez tagged up and broke for third base, so Barger unleashed another rocket.

The 98.8 mph throw beat Tellez by a mile. It just kept carrying and carrying, like a fastball that never came down, then took one perfectly timed skip off the turf in front of Will Wagner at third.

“That saved the night,” Francis said. “That was insane, just having him shock everyone. ... Not shock, actually, I take that back. He just brought a different energy when he throws the ball like that. It makes our innings that much quicker and there’s a lot of elements that go into it. I just couldn’t believe it.”

This incredible physical talent is nothing new for Barger, who looks like he can bend the bar in half after he’s done benching it. A year ago, he ranked sixth among 187 qualified outfielders with an average arm strength of 96.3 mph. He was also one of just 17 players in 2024 to throw a ball over 100 mph (100.6).

Barger said that he touched near 104 mph in a Spring Training game a year ago, and got as high as 107 mph on a pulldown (running throw). Even though Francis has seen it a thousand times by now, he’s still in awe, and he had a suggestion for his longtime teammate.

“Get on the mound.”