OverDrive - Barger on his season with the Blue Jays, the strong approach and the progression on the team

Episode Date: June 25, 2025

Toronto Blue Jays Infielder and Outfielder Addison Barger joined OverDrive to discuss his impressive season with the Blue Jays, the experience throughout the start at bat, playing the guitar, the atmosphere of the team, his approach with power, his strength towards the top of the lineup and more.

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Bell can. We'll identify unwanted calls and help block them. For more information, visit bell.ca slash call detection. Belle, peace of mind, just got better. presented by Play Ojo Casino and powered by iHeartRadio. Headliners Avril Lavigne and Ryza Gates. Plus Simple Plan, Boys Like Girls, Veronica's, Under Oath, and so many more. Camping, parking, and all the emo nostalgia you can handle. Get your tickets now at allyourfriendsfestival.com. Addison Barger, what's the vibe like with Max Scherzer on the mound again tonight? I mean, I think we're all excited to watch him compete again. You know, he's a dog and we're excited to see him compete tonight.

Well, and they were showing you last night, you know, like on the telecast, you were sitting there talking with Max, you know, at different times throughout the game. Like, I'm hear us what do you are you leaning on him for advice is he asking you for anything like what's the back-and-forth with which yours are like in the dugout when he's not started uh... yeah i think you know he's got a lot of wisdom he's out

there are a long time and uh... you know any any time you have a chance to talk to him about whatever you know whatever it is it's a good opportunity to listen and learn something what's it like playing hockey with some Hall of Famers and legends it's kind of like that I know they got my attention you're always kinda watching them and what they're doing and how they're acting

and how they conduct themselves in the clubhouse or locker room just what's your vibe been around Max just keeping an eye on what he does yeah i mean he's he's an interesting did for sure you know it is it's crazy to serve being around alleged like that for sure so just observing him in

and see how it goes about his work in his kind of a thought process again really helpful for me and uh... you know on to there's a lot to learn from him. So Addison, before we get into hard hitting baseball talk, take us through, are you guitar guy on the road? Do you bring your guitar with you? Is it, what's your go-to music to play for the boys? Yeah, do you ever fire it up after a loss?

And just, in hockey, you can never fire up anything after a loss. So I don't ever bring it to the field or I haven't yet. I don't know. I got to muster up enough courage to you know bop it out in front of the boys but I travel with my ukulele because that's easier to travel with smaller. Okay so what kind of music are we talking about here? Like what's your go-to song? If Scherzer came up to you and said after the game tonight I want you to bring the guitar out and you gotta play something for me, what are you playing? I'm probably playing something from Jim Croce.

So it's like folk-y, a lot of finger picking, that kind of stuff. Okay. Nothing super upbeat, kind of lame. Alright, Noodles, you're a guitar guy. Can youicking that kind of stuff okay i think you brought the carl and all right noodles your target i cannot get out of stuff for life for me it's just around the campfire you do the brown eyed girl margarita bill just drinking songs that's the thing that i used to do i mean you know you want to get the boys fired up i mean i don't know i i wasn't a finger picker like obviously addison you're more uh...

uh... is skilled when it comes to the guitar about that but for me it was just all about having some fun and getting the boys singing. Oh absolutely, that's also awesome. Yeah just getting four chords going and playing whatever. I love that man. Exactly. Addison Barger, listen baseball is a grind you know like I'm sure you've been playing

guitar for a long time I don't know if you have any other hobbies But do you feel like it just allows you to mentally escape? You know like when you're away from the field how important you think that is to kind of get away from baseball Oh, it's super important. Yeah, like you said this it's a grind the grind physically mentally and When you're away from the field you're trying to get as far away as possible. So whatever that outlet is for guys away from the field you're trying to get as far away as possible so whatever that outlet is for guys is whatever but yeah for me the guitar ukulele it's been been really big for me. Is there a group of we'll call it younger guys on the team that hang out like what's the road routine if you get into a city and you're there for three or four days is it dinners is it you know guys hanging out in the room or you know a lot of either playstation

or ps5 or whatever it is nowadays, online gaming? What's the go-to routine for the guys with the younger group? Yeah, we'll go get dinner every now and then. Definitely, there's a lot of gaming going on between all the guys. But it's pretty chill. I guess it depends if my family's on the road with me or not too. If they're with me, then I'm just changing diapers and stuff. on the road with me or not too.

If they're with me then I'm just changing diapers and stuff. But yeah, we'll go to dinner. Okay, that is definitely a change of pace. If diapers are coming into play or going to dinner with the boys, that is very different. With Addison Barger, I'm curious where Vladi comes into play on that because you're the same age as Vladi. You're both the same age, you're both born in 99, yet he's been in the league for a long time.

Is he considered one of the young guys on the team? Is he a veteran? What is the status and the labeling of Vladi? I think he definitely falls more into veteran just because he's been in the league for so long already. Although, like you said, we're pretty much the same age, he's definitely more more into veteran just because he's been in the league for so long already. Although like you said, we're pretty much the same age, he's definitely more of a veteran around the clubhouse. You ever talk to him about hitting?

I know recently you discussed trying to hit the ball hard. I know in the sport of golf, a couple of us are golfers, a lot of golfers out there thinking that to hit the ball further, you just got to swing out of your shoes. In fact, there's a lot of rotational, there's just a lot of science that goes into it. You kind of just tried to simplify that and just really keep things simple and just try to hit it as hard as you can. Just talk about your recent success at the plate.

Yeah. A lot of it is I had that speed. I have tools that I've worked on for years that have allowed me to have the success I've had but yeah for sure simplifying the swing, not overthinking. Honestly being free and being yourself, trusting your capabilities is really important. It's not easy to do at the big league level. A lot of doubt can creep in there but It's not easy to do at the big league level. A lot of doubt can creep in there, but trying to maintain your confidence and just being yourself is, I think, the most important thing.

With Addison Barger, I got to believe a lot of that confidence comes from your manager where you got called up on April 15th, first seven, eight games up with the big club, struggled a little bit. I think you had one hit in your first seven games and then you've taken off since and I think you're you know that first game you played April 15th I want to say you were seventh in the lineup now you've been hitting you know second third you've been offering up protection for Vlad E and for Bo Bichette like when John Schneider has come to you and said hey man we're moving you up and we expect big things out of you how much has that boosted your confidence in the last month or so?

A lot, for sure. Knowing that they trust me enough to put me towards the top of the lineup or at the top of the lineup is really cool. It's nice to know that they have that confidence in me and it definitely gives me a big boost of confidence as well. So Addison, growing up, my dad built a small rink in the backyard to play a little hockey. I'm sure the three of us all had rinks in their backyard in Canada here. Did you have a full-size baseball stadium in your backyard?

Like maybe walk us through this and how that all unfolded and maybe how it's translated to your development in making it to the majors yeah yeah so we built a full-size Major League infield in the backyard so we moved to Tampa Tampa from Seattle I was like five years old 2005 and my parents decided to to build a house after a few years and my dad wanted to build a baseball field in the backyard. Okay, so what happened when you wanted to launch balls, like where did the balls go if you started launching them all over the place? Where did they end up?

Someone's backyard or what? So to right field, it pretty much was just land. Like, you know, it would go on forever. It's probably, you know, eight acres out there. So there's enough land just to the ball, the right center and left field, we have like the pool area and left field. That was like 200 feet away. So that didn't, I probably broke some windows a couple

of times and then I think we just stopped hitting on the field, probably around like 11 or 12. That's when I stopped hitting on the field there. Just, we just hit in the cage. Yeah you can't get in trouble either like you talked to your dad so you built the thing man I'm just launching baseballs like I don't know where he was the one throwing me BP so you know yeah your mom probably would exactly so are you like a big feel the dreams guy do you have you watched that movie 15,000 times or what what I've watched I've watched it a couple times

My dad is definitely definitely a big field. Yeah for sure. You know And he's always he's always been the one that's worked with me like catch all that so he he loves that movie He does talk about it quite often Yeah, for sure with the Addison barger back in the lineup tonight playing right field And you kind of jockey between third base and right field probably playing more right field in the last Little while are you getting comfortable out there? Do you have a position that you feel you want to play on a daily basis, you know moving forward? I Mean, yeah

You know, I came up as a shortstop. I'm a natural infielder started playing outfield a couple years ago. I Don't know if I I don't know. I don't know that sounds years ago. I don't know if I, I don't know. I don't know if it sounds that bad. I don't really care where I play on the field, I guess. Like it doesn't really, you know, it doesn't really matter to me. I don't really have a preference. I like playing right. I like playing third.

You know, wherever I sit in that lineup, I'm more than happy to play. That's probably the attitude that Josh Snyder wants to hear, man. I can guarantee you that. Like that's what will keep you in the bigs. And I mean, you're playing great. The team's playing great. I'm curious, you know, before we get you out of here, if you can kind of compare and contrast the mood around the team

when you arrived, you know, a couple months ago, where it's a bit of a slow start for the club. And now when you look at where you guys are at, you've been red hot now for the better part of a month, month and a half. You're two and a half back of the Yankees. You know, you're in a playoff spot. What's the mood like today compared to maybe a couple of months ago in the clubhouse?

Yeah, the vibes are really good right now. You know, we're having fun. We got a good group of guys. We're all pretty tight. Yeah, the vibe can't really get much better. I don't think, even a couple months ago, it wasn't necessarily bad. I think a lot of the guys have faith't really get much better. I don't think even a couple months ago wasn't it wasn't necessarily bad I think a lot of the guys have faith and trust in the team

So even if we are, you know going through, you know, we lose a couple games or whatever We have a lot of confidence. We'll get back into it and with the ballgames Yeah, that's that's what blue jay fans want to hear and it was a fun one last night And it'll be a fun one with Mac Scherzer back on the mount tonight and Addison Barger back in right field so good luck tonight. Good luck moving forward. Thanks for doing this Addison We'll do it again down the road Sounds good. Thank you for having me There he is back in right field tonight Addison Barger This pride season celebrate with the station that says bold vibrant and diverse as you are

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