Reds' Barnhart playing his way into the future

PHOENIX – There’s never been a question about Tucker Barnhart’s abilities behind the plate. The Reds’ 24-year-old rookie catcher was a big-league level defender before he ever got to the big leagues, but the question has been the bat.

“It’s the unknown to Tucker, if he’d be able to handle the bat,” Reds manager Bryan Price said before Saturday’s game against the Diamondbacks. “If he’d be able to get one of these Bryan Pena-type opportunities and something happened with Devin (Mesoraco) and slide in like Brayan (Pena) did for Devin last year or Brayan did for Joey (Votto) last year and get 370 at-bats, would it be 370 at-bats of competitive offense or would it be more of a void in the lineup?”

Through 127 at-bats, Price believes he has his answer.

“When he comes to the plate, I feel good that he’s going to do something good,” Price said.

Barnhart is hitting .244 with a .331 on-base percentage and a .339 slugging percentage with three home runs and eight RBI in 36 starts and 41 total games this year. With Pena in the second year of a two-year contract and Mesoraco expected to be ready for a full season behind the plate next year, Barnhart has shown he can be the guy the Reds can count on as a legitimate big-league catcher going forward.

“I haven’t yet seen a vulnerability to him, like a breaking ball, changeup or fastball in. Typically with young hitters, you’ll see a vulnerability and think, boy, they’re going to have to tighten that up if they’re going to not get over-exploited from time to time,” Price said.

“He just does a very nice job protecting the plate with two strikes, handling a mix of different pitches. There’s been nothing about his game that’s been disappointing. Offensively he’s been a lot more than I anticipated.”

Barnhart got his first taste of the big leagues last Opening Day after Mesoraco started the season on the disabled list. In all, he got into 21 games and had 60 plate appearances.

“Getting my feet wet last year helped me a ton as far as this year – to get prepared and know what I need to do to put myself in the best spot to have success,” Barnhart said.

That included playing off the bench for the first time and learning how to deal with that.

But more than anything, he got the chance to see the big leagues and learn from the likes of Mesoraco, Pena and an experienced pitching staff.

This season, he caught most of ex-Red Mike Leake’s starts, working closely with Leake to get him through a mid-season slump. After Leake’s loss to the Twins on June 29, the two talked for 10 minutes as the media waited to talk to Leake, who’d given up seven runs in four innings.

After Leake talked to the media and both showered, they then went to the video room and talked through Leake’s outing and came up with a new game plan.

After that talk, Leake went 4-1 with a 1.25 ERA in what would be the final five starts of Leake’s Reds career. Leake gave credit to Barnhart for helping turn around his performance.

Barnhart’s impressed with all of his work behind the plate, but that’s hardly a surprise, considering he’s been known as a good defender and receiver since winning a minor league Gold Glove in 2011.

“He keeps everything in front of him, he’s a great catch-and-throw guy, a great blocker,” Price said. “(He’s) extremely invested in game-calling, going in and looking at video, rapport with the pitching staff – not just the starters – but the relievers as well.”

Barnhart has gone from the youngster to the veteran in quick succession as the the Reds’ pitching staff has had a complete turnover from a year ago, turning from a veteran staff to an all-rookie staff.

Like his pitchers, he’s far from a complete product. While his hitting has been good, he has struggled hitting right-handed. He’s hitting .279/.367/.394 as a left-handed batter and .087/.160/.087 as a right-handed batter. A natural left-handed hitter, he’s been switching hitting since high school, but giving up hitting right-handed isn’t out of the question.

For now, though, he’s shown that he can be a valuable part of the Reds’ future.

“You always want to have that feeling you belong, and that’s the difference between you feeling it and knowing you have the backing of the players – but not only the players, but the front office,” Barnhart said. “I’d like to think I’ve put myself in a good position for them to trust me and know I’m going to go out and play well when I’m in the lineup and hope it continues.”

LINEUP SWITCH: With left-handers on the mound for the Diamondbacks on Saturday and Sunday, Price switched up his lineup, putting Billy Hamilton back atop the lineup, moving Brandon Phillips down to second and Joey Votto third.

Hamilton’s only hitting nine points better against left-handers than right-handers this season (.229 vs. .220) coming into Saturday’s game, but he’s hitting much better against left-handed starters, hitting .272/.306/.337 as opposed to .205/.252/.262 against right-handed starters.

The Reds hadn’t scored in 27 innings going into Saturday’s game, so Price wanted to try something new.

“I know we’ve been scuffling a little bit offensively. If we get a couple of good games offensively where he’s on base and creating opportunities, then we have a chance to jump-start the offense a little bit,” Price said.

“I don’t want to put it all on Billy’s back, it’s just one of those situations with the back-to-back left-handers. We don’t see a ton of left-handed starters. I think it’s an opportunity to see him hit at the top of the order might get us going a little bit. I would anticipate against right-handed pitching, you’ll see a very similar look to what you’ve seen in the past with him hitting left-handed.”

Hamilton has batted ninth in 51 games and leadoff in 37 games.

“I couldn’t continue to give him the most at-bats on the team with a low on-base percentage,” Price said. “He can still influence our offense just from a different slot in the order.”

Instead of eighth, Price has preferred slotting Hamilton ninth and the pitcher eighth.

“Him hitting eighth doesn’t make any sense to me, unless we’re going to have the pitcher take a couple of pitches so Billy can take a shot at stealing second and then either try to bunt him to third ...”

RANDY JOHNSON HONORED: When Bryan Price was a pitcher in college at Cal, he remembers watching Randy Johnson pitch for Southern California. Many years later, he was his pitching coach at Arizona, and on Saturday, he was in the dugout to see Johnson get his Diamondbacks No. 51 retired before Saturday’s game at Chase Field.