The Rangers have released veteran right-handed reliever Jacob Barnes, per the league transaction log at MiLB.com. He’d been pitching with their Triple-A affiliate in Round Rock but will now be free to sign with any club.
Barnes, 33, posted good results with the Rangers organization, logging 20 1/3 innings of 2.21 ERA ball during his time with their Round Rock club. He turned in a strong 52.3% ground-ball rate and 0.44 HR/9 mark, although his 17.5% strikeout rate and 10.3% walk rate were both more concerning.
A former 14th-round pick (2011), Barnes debuted with the Brewers in 2016 and was a mainstay in their bullpen for three seasons, compiling 147 1/3 innings of 3.54 ERA ball with a quality 24.4% strikeout rate against an elevated 9.9% walk rate. His results fell off in 2019, however, and he’s bounced around six big league rosters since leaving Milwaukee (Royals, Angels, Mets, Blue Jays, Tigers, Yankees). Dating back to 2019, Barnes has a 6.37 ERA in 101 2/3 frames, thanks largely to a hefty 1.59 HR/9 mark.
While Barnes has struggled with the long ball, he was averaging 95.4 mph on his heater last year, generally keeps the ball on the ground at an above-average rate (career 49%) and has frequently shown the ability to generate strikeouts at average or better rates. Barnes’ career 23.3% strikeout rate is a bit higher than the 2023 league average (22.7%), and his career 13.1% swinging-strike rate is two percentage points above the 11.1% league-average mark. In three separate seasons, he’s run that swinging-strike rate just shy of or even in excess of 15%, suggesting the potential for a well above-average strikeout rate.
It’s been a few years since Barnes has had big league success, but this year’s 2.21 ERA in Triple-A would be his highest of the past three seasons at that level. Between that run of upper-minors success, the league-wide need for bullpen depth and Barnes’ combination of velocity, whiffs and grounders, he ought to find another opportunity in his return to the open market.
Good luck to him, hope things work out.
Next Phillie arm?
You know a team is getting good when they release good players. Barnes is a gamer and he’ll find a way to contribute this season.
Seems like a serviceable bullpen piece. Most teams have a hole he can fix.
With the bullpen issues texas has had would think they would have given this guy a try and sent Hernandez down to figure things out
Had the same thought. I was scratching my head on this one….
This guy isn’t on the Rangers’ 40 man roster, so someone would have to be DFA’d to make room for him. And if the guy can’t get strikeouts and avoid walks at the AAA level, not sure why he’d be a better option than the likes of Taylor Hearn, John King or Joe Barlow, who have had more recent success and don’t require anyone to be DFA’d. Not every journeyman AAAA reliever who pitches decently well in the minors is the Rangers’ answer to their crappy bullpen.
Rays should be calling
Come on back.
Orioles
Teams have scouts that do nothing BUT pro coverage. Don’t know how his current pitches are shaping up but a low 2.21 ERA in that league is outstanding. I look for a MLB team to add him to their current 26 man roster before the weekend.
You can’t get away from yourself by moving from one place to another – Jake Barnes
Would have had to create a pitching spot on the 40 man and as bad as some have been – I can’t see simply letting them go.
Too bad we couldn’t let Brad Miller go for a pitching spot! LoL
Yes! Now, Chris Young can’t accidentally call him up.
He has a live arm and pretty good stuff, but he has exasperatingly given up the bIg hit at the most inopportune times in the last few years. His pre2019 OBP was .315 and slugging was .360. From 2019-2022 in mlb, and those numbers went up to .38 OBP and .468 slugging. He would be teasingly good then BAM a homer in an outing you thought he had under control.
At this point in his career, I would rather have my hitters facing him in a high leverGe situation then him facing the other team in a high leverage situation. Don’t know exactly what it is, but it just seems like he loses focus and then loses where he wants s to locate the pitch. Batter were not hitting pitchers pitches. Batters were crushing his mistakes.
I’m not sure why CY decided to fill up the payroll overloading the rotation and doing nothing via trade or free agency for the bullpen (or outfield tbh). He has several former or current top 100 middle infield prospects that literally have no place with Seager and Semien. I feel that I could definitely run this team much better than CY. They fawn over his Princeton liberal arts degree. I’m even academically more well-qualified than this fool, not to mention the fact that I have common sense. I bet most fans on here could do a better job. It’s not about overpaying or underpayment in trade, but rather improving overall by dealing from strengths and depth to address weaknesses.