The Diamondbacks are designating catcher Tucker Barnhart for assignment, according to Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. Piecoro indicates that the move will clear space on the club’s roster for Gabriel Moreno to be activated from the injured list prior to the club’s next game against the Dodgers on Tuesday.
Barnhart, 33, made Arizona’s Opening Day roster as the primary backup to Moreno over Jose Herrera. The veteran has struggled mightily this year, however, slashing just .165/.283/.190 in 94 trips to the plate with the Snakes this season. That line includes a surprisingly strong 13.8% walk rate, but those decent on-base skills are outweighed by his massive 33% strikeout rate and complete lack of power (as evidenced by an ISO of just .025). When Moreno went on the IL with a sprained thumb, Herrera was called up to the big leagues to join Barnhart in the catching tandem, and evidently the club has decided that they’d prefer to leave the 27-year-old in the backup role once Moreno returns from the injured list on Tuesday.
The veteran backstop has struggled to be productive at the plate throughout the majority of his career, as evidenced by a career 78 wRC+ and a 68 wRC+ over the past five seasons. Barnhart has generally made up for that lack of offensive production with a strong glove behind the plate, even winning two Gold Glove awards during his tenure with the Reds. That aspect of his game has dried up in recent years, however. After regressing defensively during his time with the Cubs last year, Barnhart was below average by all three of Statcast’s defensive metrics for catchers: Blocks Above Average, CS Above Average, and Framing. Given that reality, it’s easy to see why Arizona would turn to Herrera, who is similarly limited on offense but appears to be a superior defender as compared to Barnhart at this stage of his career.
Taking Barnhart’s place on the roster will be Moreno, who last suited up for the Dbacks on June 21 and has been nursing a thumb sprain since then. The 24-year-old youngster is in his second season with Arizona after coming over alongside Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in the Daulton Varsho trade during the 2022-23 offseason. Moreno has performed solidly behind the plate in 172 games with the Diamondbacks, slashing .265/.330/.385 with a roughly league average 97 wRC+ and strong grades for his defense at catcher.
Once Barnhart’s DFA becomes official, the Diamondbacks will have seven days to either work out a trade involving the veteran or attempt to pass him through waivers. If he goes unclaimed on waivers, Arizona could attempt to outright him to the minor leagues as a non-roster depth option, but the 11-year MLB veteran has more than enough service time to reject such an assignment and test free agency.
davidk1979
Awful ball player
sidewinder11
He used to be pretty decent. Multiple gold gloves. Multiple 10+ home run seasons. Age just caught up to him and now he can’t hit or catch lol
Lloyd Emerson
He’s better at baseball than you or me. He’s also half a season shy of getting full pension for life. Hopefully he’ll make it. I just hope the Cubs don’t sign him again.
Rsox
Tucker lost whatever offensive ability he had when he left Cincinnati. He’ll land somewhere as depth though
Cincyfan85
He’d be an upgrade over Martin Maldonado.
Acoss1331
Why not, White Sox aren’t going anywhere, might as well stick him in the lineup and DFA Maldonado…
sufferforsnakes
Del Castillo gets no love.
User 3014224641
Tidy piece of business here
sergefunction
I don’t know how or why, but Tucker Barnhart got Detroited when he left the Reds.
He suddenly lost his pizzazz, the Reds knew something, or his Ohio-Michigan state line crossing went just like Burt Lancaster in Field of Dreams – aging 60 years in one footstep.
Or all 3 things happened at the same time.
Watching him after Cincinnati was like he was playing underwater. Different guy.
Redsman59
Good luck Tucker. I hope you get picked up and make your 10.
Homer_Heins
Tucker isn’t a bad backup catcher, but they are hoping for a little more offense there. Gino is probably the reason. Hopefully Blaze can hit more line drives and develop his glove because he has the arm for 3b.
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Tucker lost whatever offensive ability he had when he left Cincinnati. He’ll land somewhere as depth though