Those who have followed the game of baseball for any significant amount of time know full well that you should never put too much weight on what happens during spring training. And although I personally am not among those who deem spring training games as “meaningless games,” I long ago learned that what you see in spring training does not always translate to what you get once the regular season begins.

But occasionally it does happen, and in the case of 29-year-old Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes, one most certainly hopes that this is one such occasion.

It’s no secret that Dodger fans pretty much wanted to burn the Fullerton, California native and 2011 ninth-round draft pick by the (then) Florida Marlins out of Arizona State University in Tempe at the stake towards the end of the 2018 regular season and most certainly through the 2018 postseason; especially during the World Series, when Barnes went 0-for-11 with one walk and five strikeouts. In fact, the only reason why Dodger fans did not is because he had proven himself to be a far better defensive catcher than (now) former Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal, who not only struggled offensively down the stretch in 2018, but was flat out horrible defensively during that time.

(Author’s Note: Grandal became a free agent at the end of the 2018 season and declined the Dodgers [and MLB’s pre-set] $17.9 million qualifying offer. He ultimately signed a one-year / $18.25 million contract with the Milwaukee Brewers).

As a result of Barnes’ struggles in 2018, many Dodger fans quickly turned their attention to top catching prospects Keibert Ruiz (whom Baseball Prospectus ranked as the Dodgers number three overall prospect) and Will Smith (number four). The problem is, Ruiz is only 20 years old and his highest level of play thus far Double-A, and Smith, who turns 24 on March 28, only 25 games at the Triple-A level. That being said, both are ridiculously good both offensively and defensively. In fact, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman recently referred to Smith as “…a Hall of Fame catcher.”

And then came February 23, when spring training games began for the Dodgers.

Of the 12 spring training games that the Dodgers have played thus far, Barnes has appeared in seven of them. He is 6-for-18 (.333) with two doubles and leads the team with his eight RBI. For good measure, he also stole a base in Thursday’s game against the Angels at Tempe Diablo Stadium.

On the other side of the ball, Barnes has not committed an error in 27 total chances thus far this spring for a perfect 1.000 Fielding Percentage. He has also thrown out one would-be base stealer in four attempts.

The obvious point here is that Barnes is having an exceptional spring, and if … if he can carry this over into the regular season, which is now less than three weeks away, the extremely polite and soft-spoken Southern California native could very well be among the best catchers in the game in 2019.

Oh, in case you were wondering, Grandal is 1-for-12 (.083) with seven strikeouts in the six spring training games he has appeared in thus far with the Brewers. Thanks for declining that QA, Yaz.

Play Ball!

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