The Toronto Blue Jays are through two games of their four-game series against the Kansas City Royals and to this point they have split winning the first game 5-3 and dropping last night’s 3-2. Tonight Yariel Rodriguez will make his third start of the season, he is 0-0 with a 2.35 ERA, Rodriguez will face Alec Marsh and he is 3-0 with a 3.22 ERA. The Blue Jays last night suffered a loss as Kevin Kiermaier left the game with hip flexor discomfort, with that loss the Blue Jays today called up their fourth-ranked prospect Addison Barger who will play either third base or corner outfield for the Blue Jays.
Blue Jays Moves By The Numbers
OF – Kevin Kiermaier
Kiermaier is in his second season with the Blue Jays. In his first season, he played in 129 games and he hit .265 with a .741 OPS; he had 21 doubles, six triples, eight home runs, 36 RBI, 58 runs scored, 14 stolen bases, and 29 walks. He also won a Gold Gloves which was the fourth of his career having won three in the first ten years of his career with the Tampa Bay Rays where he played from 2013-2022. He re-signed with the Blue Jays on December 28, 2023, and this spring in 16 games he went 9-39 with a triple, four home runs, seven RBI, seven runs scored, and two walks. To start this season in 22 games he hit .193 with a .492 OPS; he has three doubles, four RBI, five runs scored, two stolen bases, and four walks.
3B – Addison Barger
Barger was drafted by the Blue Jays in the sixth round of the 2018 MLB Draft. He has played across all of the Blue Jays minor league levels spending 2023 playing with their rookie league team, Single-A Dunedin, and Triple-A Buffalo, and across those three levels he hit .247 with a .745 OPS; he had 25 doubles, nine home runs, 47 RBI, 56 runs scored, five stolen bases, and 57 walks. This spring in nine games he went 8-18 with three doubles, two RBI, three runs scored, a stolen base, and four walks. He started the season at Triple-A Buffalo hitting .314 with a 1.021 OPS; he had ten doubles, three home runs, 21 RBI, 17 runs scored, and 14 walks.
