The Orioles announced earlier this week that they’ve signed infielder Franklin Barreto to a minor league deal. It’s unclear whether or not the deal includes an invitation to big league Spring Training next year.
Barreto, 28, signed with the Blue Jays as an amateur out of Venezuela and made his pro debut in 2013. He quickly rose among the prospect ranks in the early years of his career and was a consensus top-100 prospect in the sport by the time Toronto shipped him to Oakland in the Josh Donaldson trade back in 2015. He remained a consensus top-100 prospect over the next several years even as his offense took a step back after reaching the upper minors.
After hitting a solid .281/.340/.413 in 507 trips to the plate at the Double-A level in 2016, Barreto found himself promoted to Triple-A where he failed to put up big numbers despite the inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League. Impressive as his .290/.339/.456 slash line at Triple-A in 2017 may look without context, it was actually just 3% better than league average by measure of wRC+. Barreto’s peripheral numbers were also lackluster as his strikeout rate jumped nearly ten points from where it was in Double-A, leaving his overall slash line propped up by an unsustainable .384 BABIP.
Despite those red flags, the A’s promoted Barreto to Oakland for his big league debut in 2017. The cup of coffee did not go especially well, as Barreto hit just .197/.250/.352 with an eye-popping 43.4% strikeout rate in 76 trips to the plate. That performance was 40% worse than league average by wRC+, and left the infielder once again relegated to shuttling between the Triple-A and big league levels the following year in 2018. That season, Barreto improved on his first taste of big league action the year prior to hit a respectable .233/.253/.493 with a 102 wRC+. While Barreto’s five home runs in 75 plate appearances helped to prop up his overall numbers, a 38.3% strikeout rate and a walk rate of just 1.3% suggested he still did not have the necessary plate discipline to be a regular contributor in the majors.
Things took a turn for the worse for Barreto from there, as he didn’t hit a lick in 68 big league plate appearances for the club over the next two years. The A’s eventually cut bait on the infielder partway through the 2020 season, when they shipped Barreto to Anaheim in exchange for veteran infielder Tommy La Stella. He made another 18 trips to the plate for the Angels down the stretch that year, but struck out at a 44.4% clip while hitting .118/.167/.118. That brief stint with the Angels represents Barreto’s last action in the big leagues. Since then, he’s spent time in both the Astros and Nationals organizations on minor league deals before departing affiliated ball for the Mexican League’s Diablos Rojos del Mexico earlier this year.
Barreto’s time in Mexico actually went quite well, as he lit up opposing pitching to the tune of a .343/.430/.576 slash line in 372 trips to the plate across 76 games. That evidently caught the attention of the Orioles, who have brought him into their organizational fold as a non-roster depth option for the club. Barreto figures to primarily act as injury insurance given Baltimore’s crowded infield mix that already features Gunnar Henderson, Jordan Westburg, Jackson Holliday, Coby Mayo, Ramon Urias, and Jorge Mateo. He primarily plays shortstop but has plenty of experience at second base and center field to go along with at least occasional work everywhere on the diamond except catcher.
Ramon Urias 2.0, LFG
(But probably not lol)
lol that’s what I thought too. But That’s still a lot of K’s against Mexican league arms.
Yeah, it was really just a joke. Most likely nothing comes of this move, but we also thought that about the Urias waiver claim when it happened and it’s worked out pretty well, so you never know…
Remember, in 2014, the A’s traded Josh Donaldson for Brett Lawrie, Franklin Barreto, Sean Nolin, and Kendall Graveman.
Yeah only because he offended Billy beane
Barreto was the top prospect in that Donaldson trade… gives some perspective on what prospects are. Donaldson won the MVP in his first season with the Jays.
Beane wouldn’t trade Barreto when he still had prospect value bcuz the trade was a disaster from Day 1 and he wanted to prove he knew better than Josh (…AND he didn’t)
Very old news.
Cancel the season, this is the WS winning move.
This signing allows the O’s to deal Gunnar and Holliday for some young arms. JK
Gunnar for Skenes and Chandler, who says no?
Orioles say no
Pirates would say no. Maybe a one for one deal, but a top tier pitcher is worth more than a top tier shortstop. Perhaps more importantly, Skenes has an extra year of club control which is key because the Pirates would be unable to sign either Skenes or Gunnar to an extension and would eventually have to trade either one.
both teams say no for different reasons, this is not your rotisserie league.
I would take Skenes and Chandler for Gunnar personally. We’d get by with Holliday and Westburg with a sprinkle of Mateo and Urias.
the Orioles are on the clock now. hope they don’t waste their window like the Jays with Vlad and Bo, but then, they don’t have our genius front office of fo0ls.
Waste their window? As much as I agree about Stieb this take us so bad it’s hilarious
Not the news we want.
But the news we deserve. 2 free bonus points if you get the reference.
here is the player the O’s have been missing the past few years
Like old school “didn’t hit a lick” evaluation reference. Refreshing.
I love my Orioles but what is their obsesion in collecting infielders?
I love my Orioles but what is their obsesion in collection infielders? Urias, Mateo, Gunnar, Hollyday, Mayo, Westburg, Livan Soto, Rivera, Mouncastle, O’Hearns and now Barreto
Collecting *
I suspect Terrin Vavra would still be in the mix as well if not for the bum shoulder.
I love my Orioles but what is with their obsesion in collecting infielders? Urias, Gunnar, Westburg, Mateo, Mayo, Rivera, Holiday, Livan Soto, Mountcastle, O’Hearns and now Barreto? Oh I forgot Vavra though he can also play Outfielder as O’Hearns
Traded all the minor league depth. Vavra, Soto, Barreto will be the AAA infield assuming Soto makes it through without being DFA’d.
Not sold Rivera sticks either.
Do they test for juice in Mexico ?
Deeds is an awful writer. “Impressive as his .290/.339/.456 slash line at Triple-A in 2017 may look” is not proper English! You can’t just leave “as” out at the beginning of the sentence because you feel like it. Correct grammar isn’t optional, and if you want more people to pay for your site, write better.