Tucker Barnhart Making Strong Push for Backup Catcher Position

The Arizona Diamondbacks knew that they couldn't go into this season without trying to upgrade their backup catcher position. Gabriel Moreno isn't able to catch all 162 games. Jose Herrera struggled with his offense and defense last year. So, the team turned to defensive stalwart and 33-year-old veteran catcher Tucker Barnhart. The longtime Cincinnati Reds catcher struggled through the 2023 season playing with the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Dodgers Triple-A club. Now, he's performing excellently with the D-backs in Spring Training and looks to be the frontrunner for the backup catcher position.

The left-handed hitter had a dismal slash line of .202/.285/.257 with the Chicago Cubs in 2023. He had only four extra-base hits, including a homer and nine RBI. He struggled with the strikeouts with 42 of them in just 109 at-bats. That was an astounding 34.1% of the time.

Barnhart felt lost, caught in between numerous different swing thoughts and ideas. While he took great pains to express ownership for his failures at the plate and  thanks to the people trying to help him, he also  felt like there were "too many cooks in the kitchen". This year he's simplified  things in an attempt to get back to what works for him naturally. "I'm Just focusing on hitting the ball the other way and not trying to hit the ball out in front as much"

Barnhart felt like some of the things he was trying to do last year were not well suited to his body type. He has the stockier build typical of many traditional catchers. "There are things I'm not capable of doing with my body size  or type... So getting back to some old drills that I used to do that may seem archaic now have really helped my confidence level and it really helped me come into Spring Training ready to go and really focusing on just the quality of my at-bats"

So far, the different approach has done wonders. He's got four hits in 14 at-bats  with four walks and just two strikeouts. The overall quality of his contact has looked good. 

Barnhart is  focused on treating spring training like the regular season. The emphasis has been on competing from the outset. "Usually in years past, I've come to Spring Training in shape and ready to play, working through things heading into Opening Day just knowing that you need to be ready for March 28th...This year was a little different. For me, Opening Day was our first game of Spring Training. 

Barnhart knows just how important it is every day for him to go out and compete as he's fighting for a job on the 26-man roster."For me, it's been come in and compete and play like it's the regular season, like every inning and every pitch matters." he said. "I think it's something that I'll probably do now for the rest of my career, however long that is because I feel as prepared to play as I've felt in a long time. It's been freeing to come into Spring Training just with the thought of competing"

The most important aspect of Barnhart's job is his work behind the plate of course. Coaches are taking notice with Manager Torey Lovullo giving high praise to him multiple times this Spring Training, emphasizing his experience.  One of the things that is hardest for catchers with new teams is adapting to their new pitchers and pitching staff. The change in calls, pitches, and planning is hard for players to adjust to. Though, he is used to catching Eduardo Rodriguez, whom he caught in 2022.

Speaking on the difficult adjustments, Barnhart has been working with Gabriel Moreno to learn the new pitchers. "We've talked about everybody, to be honest. For me, it's important, outside of appearance, for a pitcher to really know whose behind the plate in terms of the way a game is called, the messaging, the understanding of who the pitcher is.  I never want to stick out in a bad way in terms of not being prepared in that regard. We've talked about it a lot if not all the guys. It's been great...He [Gabi] has helped me out a lot getting to know the guys. Jose [Herrera] has done the same thing."

Barnhart is enjoying the new clubhouse with a group of players who are all pursuing the same thing, getting back to the playoffs.

"It's rare to find an entire group of people from the top-down, whether that's the front office, the coaching staff, the support staff, players that all maintain the same message of wanting to get back to where they were last year and how we're going to do it and everybody's feeling on the same wavelength. It's rare in my opinion, but it's been great. I'm very lucky to be a part of something like this."

Barnhart was originally drafted by the Cincinnati Reds and played with them from 2014 to 2021. In 2012, Barnhart was playing for their Double-A team. As it turns out, so was current Diamondbacks hitting coach Joe Mather.

"Yeah it's funny, Joe and I have maybe a unique relationship, so Joe was on his last effort to get back to the Big Leaguesin 2011 or 2012, we played together in Double-A in the Reds organization and then fast forward to 2020, 2021, he was the assistant hitting coach in Cincinnati and I was still there so we've known each other for a long time. So the relationship is obviously there and in terms of philosophy and things like that, we seem to mesh."

Only time will tell if his new approach to hitting along with his impressive play this Spring Training will lead to a spot on the Opening Day roster. But, as Barnhart is playing with a new mindset, it certainly has potential for him to not only make the roster but impress the organization with his play. "Now it's been  get ready to go play from the first game of Spring and it's been really freeing mentally."

This is even more important with Gabriel Moreno suffering a bout of lower back tightness, exposing the team's lack of stability at catcher behind Moreno. If Barnhart can turn his offense around this season and improve back to his numbers in Cincinnati, the Diamondbacks will be well-set.

The D-backs must have a capable catcher who can catch 40 or so games to keep Moreno healthy and productive. That will be crucial for Barnhart to provide with dependable hitting and strong defense. If he can turn his career around after a couple of rough seasons, the D-backs will have potentially the best catching room in MLB. If he can't, the team's struggles of losing games that Moreno didn't play in will make for an extremely tough season in which every single game is a must-win situation in the tough National League.