With the departure of Yasmani Grandal in free agency, Austin Barnes was expected to see a bigger role behind the plate for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He received even more playing time so far in 2019 once fellow catcher Russell Martin hit the 10-day injured list.
Barnes struggled mightily after Martin’s injury, with one hit in his past 34 plate appearances entering Friday’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He then broke out of his slump in a big way, with a solo home run in the second inning and a two-run double in the fourth off Pirates starter Chris Archer.
His contributions helped to power a 6-2 Dodgers win.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts praised Barnes’ approach in the batter’s box and spoke optimistically about his outlook, as seen on SportsNet LA:
“It was really good to see. He took really good at-bats tonight. Three-two, fouls the fastball off, then (Archer) leaves the breaking ball and (Barnes) took a good swing. I think for his confidence, for us, that homer was big. And then the double later was just as big. For Austin, he’s onto something. I think the confidence is starting to come back and obviously now you get the results. Hopefully that continues to carry on.”
In 2017, Barnes’ first full season in the Majors and the best year of his career, he replaced Grandal as the team’s primary catcher during their run to the World Series. Barnes regressed in 2018, though, with just a .205 batting average and .619 on-base plus slugging percentage.
Still, he started the majority of the Dodgers’ National League Championship Series and World Series games that year, though he recorded just two hits in 34 plate appearances.
Prior to his latest skid, Barnes had shown encouraging signs of putting last year’s season-long struggles behind him. Regardless of results, Barnes’ approach and body language has been much improved, which is an encouraging sign for the Dodgers.
