Much more than just Vlad and Springer: Meet the Blue Jays' under-the-radar mashers

Four years ago, Toronto Blue Jays hitting coach David Popkins received a call from Los Angeles Dodgers vice president of player development, Will Rhymes, his boss at the time, with good news: The organization wanted to promote him to a minor league hitting coordinator role. It was an encouraging step forward after one season as hitting coach for the High-A Great Lakes Loons. And it never happened because the Minnesota Twins called him the next day asking to interview him for their hitting coach vacancy with the big league club -- three rungs above the Midwest League. He was 31 years old at the time. He got the job.

"I was pretty shocked," Popkins said.

Popkins, hired in Nov. 2021, oversaw Twins hitters for three years, helping guide an offense that ranked 11th in wRC+ and 13th in runs scored over the stretch despite major injuries to key players. Then he was made a scapegoat for the team's collapse out of postseason contention and fired after the 2024 season. His unemployment lasted less than three weeks before the Blue Jays plucked him in October.

A year later, the Blue Jays advanced to the World Series as heavy underdogs against the organization that gave him his first coaching opportunity. He has molded the Toronto offense into an unlikely juggernaut -- it finished fourth in the majors in runs scored during the regular season and has been the best group this postseason. The Blue Jays make the most contact in the majors and strike out the least. They frustrate pitchers by driving up pitch counts with keen discipline and an annoying knack for fouling off pitches.

Popkins, working with assistant hitting coaches Hunter Mense and Lou Iannotti, has guided the group with one overarching message: Every hitter has different strengths and weaknesses, so let's play to those. Players say an identity isn't forced on them.

"I think overall our lineup's won in different ways every single day this year," Blue Jays outfielder Daulton Varsho said. "There's not one way to kind of describe us. We grind out pitchers. We do everything we can to kind of help our team win. Doesn't matter if it's a long ball or single you to death."

Popkins asked players to apply different approaches to attack different pitch mixes and make themselves unpredictable. He told them to continue making contact, as the last-place 2024 Blue Jays did, but to avoid making contact just to make contact in advantage counts. He emphasized sprinkling in some slug into their at-bats when they've earned a good count.

"I just think our one through nine is tough to get through," Popkins said. "There's not a lot of breathing room there. You know, a lot of lineups, you can usually find about three hitters in there you can just really attack, go after. There's not a lot of battery that's expended when that happens. And here you have to grind through one through nine."

That one through nine this season has featured three stars -- Vladimir Guerrero Jr., George Springer and Bo Bichette (when healthy) -- and a cast of under-the-radar players who embody the 2025 Blue Jays.

Here are five who have supplemented the big names with invaluable contributions.

Addison Barger

What you need to know: Barger, the Opening Day shortstop for Triple-A Buffalo this season, was called up to the majors in mid-April and stuck. Splitting time between third base and right field, the 25-year-old former sixth-round pick batted .243 with 21 home runs and a .756 OPS in 135 games. He has been even better in the postseason with a .300 batting average, three home runs and a .953 OPS in 45 plate appearances -- mostly against right-handed pitchers. It's the kind of production he dreamed about growing up playing on the baseball field his father built for him in the family's backyard near Tampa, Florida.

Signature October moment (so far): If the Blue Jays dethrone the Dodgers, Barger's pinch-hit grand slam in Game 1 -- and the story behind his sleeping accommodations -- will be remembered in Canada for a long time.

ADDISON BARGER
PINCH-HIT
GRAND SLAM#WORLDSERIES pic.twitter.com/REg58MNosp

The blast -- the first pinch-hit grand slam in World Series history -- was the gut punch in Toronto's nine-run sixth inning en route to a blowout win. Barger had rushed home to Florida after the American League Championship Series to join his wife as she gave birth to their third child -- and didn't have a place to stay when he returned for the World Series. After Game 1, Blue Jays outfielder Davis Schneider revealed that Barger had crashed the night before on a pullout couch in the living room of his hotel suite overlooking the field at Rogers Centre. It wasn't the best night's sleep, and it didn't matter.

Popkins' take: "He's explosive, man. Everything, he does it 100%. Swinging, running, throwing. At any point he can completely flip the game upside down with just his ability. He's aggressive. He plays the game a lot more than you would think with that profile."

Ernie Clement

What you need to know: Clement has found a home in Toronto after struggling through his first two big league seasons with the Cleveland Guardians and Athletics. The infielder had his best season in 2025, batting .277 with a career-high 3.2 fWAR in 157 games and was named a Gold Glove finalist as both a third baseman and utilityman. He has used the approach to rocket his production to a star level in October with a .429/.442/.592 slash line, starting in each of Toronto's 13 playoff games. Clement has a hit in 11 of the 13 games, and multiple hits in seven games.

"He's probably my favorite player," Blue Jays reliever Tommy Nance said. "He's old school. He grinds. He's gritty. I love the way he plays defense and the way that he takes at-bats."

An ultra-aggressive hitter, Clement had the eighth-lowest strikeout rate and the 203rd lowest walk rate among 215 players with at least 400 plate appearances during the regular season. He leads all hitters in the postseason with a 57.7% first-pitch swing percentage. His 63.5% overall swing percentage is the highest among the two remaining teams and third in the playoffs.

Signature October moment (so far): Before Barger clubbed the first pinch-hit grand slam in World Series history, Clement gave the Blue Jays their first lead in the Fall Classic with a go-ahead single off Emmet Sheehan to ignite the nine-run barrage in the sixth inning. The Blue Jays never looked back.

Ernie Clement drives a go-ahead single! #WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/C72nJKL2c4

Popkins' take: "Clement is a dog in every essence of the word. He could have one hand -- a broken hand, broken knee, It doesn't matter. He'll get up there and he'll find a way to put the barrel on the ball. He's been tremendous. It is a pleasure to watch him play the game every day. He plays it the exact way I would expect everyone to play this game. He's beyond special in that regard."

Alejandro Kirk

What you need to know: Kirk, a two-time All-Star, is the most accomplished of this group, but he was never projected for such heights. Generously listed at 5-foot-8, 245 pounds, Kirk signed for just $7,500 out of Mexico. He wasn't widely considered a top-100 prospect until after making his major league debut in 2020. By 2022, he was an All-Star and an integral part of the team's young core with Guerrero and Bichette. He was rewarded for his ascension with a five-year, $58 million contract in March that will keep him under team control through 2030.

Kirk was a staple in the middle of the Blue Jays' lineup during the regular season, slashing .282/.438/.421 with 15 home runs and embodying the Blue Jays grind-it-out, contact-first mindset.

"He's unbelievable," outfielder Myles Straw said. "The contact skills, the ability to hit the ball hard. His knowledge behind the plate. His ability behind the plate. He does it on both sides of the ball. Whenever you got a guy at third, less than one out, you know that, I would say 98% of the time, that run's going to score. So you always feel good with Kirky at the plate."

Signature October moment (so far): The Blue Jays won 94 games and the AL East this season, but they entered the division series against the New York Yankees as underdogs. That changed with a 10-1 rout in Game 1. Kirk helped set the tone: After hitting home runs in Game 161 and Game 162 to help seal the AL East title, Kirk continued where he left off with two solo shots.

Nathan Lukes

What you need to know: Lukes didn't make his major league debut until his age-28 season in 2023. It took 10 seasons in the minors, but he finally became a big league regular this year. He forced his way into the Blue Jays' plans -- and helped the club overcome Anthony Santander's long absence -- by posting a .730 OPS with 12 home runs in 135 games.

Signature October moment (so far): Lukes delivered a two-run double with the bases loaded in a four-run seventh inning in Game 1 of the ALDS. Lukes also made a diving catch in right field to rob Jazz Chisholm Jr. of extra bases in the win. The all-around performance helped set the tone for Toronto in October.

NATHAN LUKES GETS THERE! 😱 pic.twitter.com/pxjPyFoTdK

Popkins' take: "Battle tested. He's an older guy. I like to say those guys simply have to do twice as much to have the credit. And he finally got an opportunity here to prove that he's been a good hitter his whole life. And he's shown that."

Daulton Varsho

What you need to know: A former catcher, Varsho not only converted to the outfield full time when the Blue Jays acquired him from the Arizona Diamondbacks before the 2023 season, he has become one of the best defensive center fielders in baseball. At the plate, the 5-8 left-handed hitter cracked 20 home runs with an .833 OPS despite injuries limiting him to 71 games this season.

"I just think with Daulton, he's learned to kind of slow the moment down," Springer said. "He develops a plan before the game with Pop and Lou and Hunter and he likes to stick with it. And I think as a hitter, any time you can have some confidence in what you're doing. You trust your pregame prep. It's obviously starting to show."

Varsho said he goes to the plate looking to hit a groundball back to the pitcher every time. Springer joked it's not the approach, but it typifies the diverse approaches Blue Jays hitters present to opponents.

Signature October moment (so far): Before Barger hit that pinch-hit grand slam and before Clement supplied that go-ahead single in Game 1, Varsho drew first blood with a tying two-run home run off the previously dominant Blake Snell. It was the first home run Snell had given up in seven starts, the first home run he had given up to a left-handed hitter this season and the first home run he had given up to a left-handed hitter on a four-seam fastball since June 2, 2024. The blast was also the Blue Jays' first in a World Series since Joe Carter's iconic walk-off, championship-winning shot 32 years earlier.

DAULTON VARSHO TIES UP #WORLDSERIES GAME 1! pic.twitter.com/VncyZk97ed

Popkins' take: "He's electric. Twitchy. He's a little Sonic the Hedgehog out there in center field. You'll see a ball about 100 feet and you'll see him kind of crouch down and close that gap. Another guy who's just extremely dangerous in the box. You just never know when he's going to pop one off."