| Darwin Barney | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Barney with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2015 | |||||||||||||||
| Second baseman | |||||||||||||||
| Born: (1985-11-08)November 8, 1985 (age 39) Portland, Oregon, U.S. | |||||||||||||||
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |||||||||||||||
| MLB debut | |||||||||||||||
| August 12, 2010, for the Chicago Cubs | |||||||||||||||
| Last MLB appearance | |||||||||||||||
| October 1, 2017, for the Toronto Blue Jays | |||||||||||||||
| MLB statistics | |||||||||||||||
| Batting average | .246 | ||||||||||||||
| Home runs | 31 | ||||||||||||||
| Runs batted in | 201 | ||||||||||||||
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |||||||||||||||
| Teams | |||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
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Medals
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Darwin James Kunane Barney (born November 8, 1985) is an American former professionalbaseballinfielder and current coach. He played inMajor League Baseball (MLB) for theChicago Cubs,Los Angeles Dodgers, andToronto Blue Jays. As a member of the Cubs in 2012, he won both theRawlings Gold Glove Award and theFielding Bible Award in recognition of his defensive skills atsecond base.
Barney graduated fromSouthridge High School inBeaverton, Oregon, where he helped lead the Skyhawks baseball team to its first baseball state championship in 2002.[1]
Barney attendedOregon State University and played for the Beavers for its back-to-backNCAA Division I Baseball Championships in2006 and2007,[2] and was named to the all-tournament team in 2007.[3]
He was thePac-10 Freshman of the Year in 2005, and earned FreshmanAll-American honors.[2] In 2006, Barney was selected to Team USA byUSA Baseball, where his team won the gold medal at theWorld University Baseball Championship.[2] He left Oregon State as the school's all-time leader in career hits (238) and at-bats (765) and finished second all-time in runs (152).[4][5]
Barney was drafted by theChicago Cubs with the 127th overall pick in the2007 Major League Baseball Draft.[6]
Barney spent 2007 to part of 2010 in the Cubs minor-league system. In 2009, he split time with the Double-ATennessee Smokies and the Triple-AIowa Cubs, posting a .293 batting average in 137 games. In January 2010, Barney was invited to the Cubs' training camp,[7] opening the season with the Triple-A Iowa Cubs.
On August 11, 2010, Barney was called up to play with the Cubs after they tradedMike Fontenot to theSan Francisco Giants.[8] Barney split time at second base and played alongside fellow rookieStarlin Castro who was the team's starting shortstop. He went on to hit .241 in 30 games.
After a strong spring training, Barney earned a spot on the Cubs Opening Day roster as the starting second baseman in 2011, beating outJeff Baker andBlake DeWitt for the job.[9] After hitting .326 with 14 RBI in his first month, he was named the National League Rookie of the Month for April.[10] In his first full major league season, Barney batted .276/.313/.353 and placed seventh in National League Rookie Of The Year voting.[11]
In 2012, Barney won aFielding Bible Award as the best fielding second baseman in MLB.[12] Barney was also awarded the 2012Gold Glove award for his play at second base, the first by a Cub second baseman sinceRyne Sandberg's nine-year run from 1983 to 1991.[13] During the season, he recorded only 2 errors at second base, and tied the MLB record for consecutive errorless games at second base with 141 games.[14] For the year, he finished with a career best 4.6 WAR, including a 3.6 dWAR (defensive wins above replacement) while registering career highs in doubles (26), home runs (7) and RBI (44)[11]
Barney started 2013 on the disabled list, bouncing back from the brief set back to play 141 games in 2013, batting .208 with 7 home runs, 41 RBI, 49 runs scored and a .993 fielding percentage (4 errors). He was beaten out for the Gold Glove byBrandon Phillips.
Barney wasdesignated for assignment on July 22, 2014, after he hit .230 in 72 games for the Cubs.[15]
On July 28, 2014, he was traded to theLos Angeles Dodgers for a player to be named later,[16][17] minor league pitcher Jonathan Martinez.[18] He made his first appearance as a pinch hitter on August 11 and started his first game at second base the following day. In 22 games with the Dodgers, he hit .303. He began 2015 with the Dodgers and appeared in two games, with four at-bats and no hits, before being optioned to the Dodgers new Triple-A affiliate, theOklahoma City Dodgers. On June 12, 2015, he was designated for assignment and removed from the 40-man roster.[19]
On September 13, 2015, Barney was acquired by theToronto Blue Jays in exchange forJack Murphy. The Blue Jays put him on the active roster after designatingScott Copeland for assignment.[20][21] Barney appeared in 15 games for the Blue Jays in 2015, and batted .304 with two home runs and four RBI.[11] As he was acquired after September 1, he was ineligible to go into the postseason with Toronto. He was designated for assignment on October 19, and elected free agency on October 22.[22]
On December 11, 2015, Barney signed a one-year, $1.05 million contract with the Blue Jays.[23] He recorded his 500th career hit on May 31, 2016, driving in 2 runs with a single to right field in a 4–1 win for the Blue Jays over theNew York Yankees.[24] On July 1, 2016, Barney made his professional pitching debut, beingpressed into service in the 19th inning of a marathon game against theCleveland Indians, and gave up the winning run, earning him aloss.[25] On July 20, he played his first professional game as anoutfielder, starting inleft field against theArizona Diamondbacks. He had previously played there as a member of the 2006 under-21 United States baseball team.[26] Barney appeared in 104 games for the Blue Jays in 2016, hitting .269 with four home runs and 19 RBI.[11]
Barney avoided salary arbitration with the Blue Jays on January 12, 2017, by agreeing to a one-year, $2.8875 million contract.[27]
Barney signed a minor league contract with theTexas Rangers on February 5, 2018,[28] and was released on March 19.[29]
Barney was hired to be themanager of theNashville Sounds, the Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers, in 2020,[30] but the season was cancelled due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[31] He subsequently left the Rangers organization to become the camp coordinator and volunteer assistant coach for the Oregon State Beavers joining former teammate and the school's head coach,Mitch Canham.[32]
Barney and his wife Lindsay have three daughters and a son.[33] In 2019, he became an investor in thePortland Diamond Project, a group dedicated to bringing a Major League Baseball franchise to Portland, Oregon.[34]
Barney is one-fourth Japanese and one-fourth Korean, from his mother's side, and half Caucasian, from his father's side. His father, David Barney, was born inHawaii and played college basketball as a point guard despite only being 5 foot 6.[35][36]
