Cincinnati Reds: Tucker Barnhart is proving critics wrong

Tucker Barnhart has been on fire since returning from the injured list. The Cincinnati Reds catcher is proving his doubters wrong.

I’ll admit it. I was wrong. Tucker Barnhart has stepped up in a major way since returning from the injured list and is a big reason why the Cincinnati Reds are just 5.5 games in race for the final Wild Card spot. While Barnhart’s defense and ability to call a game behind the plate have never been in question, his offense this season was a big question mark. Not anymore.

Before I give all the credit to Tucker Barnhart for yesterday’s extra-inning win over the Atlanta Braves, let’s give kudos to Aristides Aquino and José Iglesias for setting the table. Both Aquino and Iglesias stepped up to the plate with two outs in the 10th inning and reached base safely with back-to-back singles.

Not to be outdone, Tucker smoked the very first pitch he saw from Braves closer Shane Greene over the wall in right field. That was a no-doubter. Barnhart rounded the bases with confidence and was congratulated at the plate and dugout by his teammates. David Hernandez finished off the Braves in the bottom-half of the inning and the Reds won 6-4.

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I’m not going to hide it, as I’ve been an outspoken critic of Tucker Barnhart all season. Now, before everyone comes at me with “I told you so”, let’s settle down just a little bit. Barnhart is still slashing just .210/.304/.326 on the season and has an OPS+ of 64. So, let’s not act like he’s been on fire this entire season.

However, of late, the Reds backstop has been heating up and looking like the player this team needs. Barnhart is 8-for-22 (.364) with a double, a home run, and 7 RBIs since his return from an oblique injury. David Bell will take that kind of production all day long from his starting catcher.

Prior to the injury, Barnhart was hitting just .191 with 18 RBIs in 162 at-bats. By contrast, backup catcher Curt Casali was hitting .252 with 24 RBIs in 150 at-bats. Casali also had a .337 on-base percentage while Tucker’s was sitting at .290 prior to his stint on the IL. David Bell even announced in late June that he was going to split the catching duties more evenly between the two due to Casali’s offensive production.

With Casali now on the injured list with a knee problem, Barnhart is the Reds primary catcher. Even though Kyle Farmer has the ability to play behind the plate, his versatility should keep him on the bench as a utility player rather than in rotation with Barnhart. Farmer can play all over the diamond.

For now, Barnhart is “the guy” behind the plate. The switch-hitter is in the second year of a four-year contract that, when he’s playing like this, makes the deal look like an absolute bargain. Barnhart is playing with a renewed sense of urgency and purpose. He spoke last month with C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic about losing the joy of just playing the game:

“I lost that. I lost the overall joy of playing. It’s weird how it works. You can be playing extremely well and you get wrapped up in the routine of things and it being your job and then you start to play poorly or not perform as well as you like, you start to treat it as a job. You start to treat it as coming to work and not finding the true joy of being able to play baseball for a living.”

I think we all saw that true joy that Barnhart’s talking about as he rounded the bases in the 10th inning yesterday afternoon. Tucker had a smile on his face during a postgame interview with FoxSports Ohio after getting doused with a PowerAde shower courtesy of Jesse Winker.

Hopefully Tucker’s production carries over the Cincinnati Reds homestand this coming week. The Reds play a two-game interleague set with the Los Angeles Angels before welcoming the Chicago Cubs to town. Reds Country is hoping that joy is contagious and spreads to the rest of the ball club as the Reds continue to stay in the hunt for the postseason.