TORONTO -- Addison Barger is capable of things on the baseball field that others simply aren’t.
Playing in his first game in more than a month after rehabbing from an ankle injury, Barger uncorked a 101.2 mph throw from right field to end the top of the second inning Saturday. Even by Barger’s eye-popping standards, this is one of the most impressive defensive plays we’ve seen from a Blue Jays player in years.
Not only is this the hardest-tracked throw on an outfield assist in Barger’s career, it’s the hardest of any Blue Jays player in the Statcast era (since 2015) and the hardest in Major League Baseball this season. There may not be a pitcher inside Rogers Centre today capable of touching 101.2 mph, but the right-fielder just did it … and he did it without much of a running start.
Barger fielded the low liner from Vaughn Grissom in right field, creating just a bit of an arc in his step to give himself some forward momentum before firing home to get Jorge Soler, who tagged from third expecting something other than one of the best throws you’ll see in baseball this season.
This was a dart, too, skipping just once, a few feet out in front of catcher Brandon Valenzuela. Barger is one of the most physically gifted players in the sport, pushing the limits of bat speed and any weight bench he walks past, but his throwing arm remains one of the most spectacular tools in his bag.
While the Blue Jays work to dig themselves out of a lackluster start to the 2026 season, they need game-breaking plays and standout performances. Plays like these can help to keep the Blue Jays afloat until they recapture the identity that carried them to the 2025 World Series, and in Barger, they have a player capable of shocking you on both sides of the ball.