A Blue Jay from the Past: Darwin Barney

Do you remember Darwin Barney?

This is “A Blue Jay from the Past”. Each week, I’ll spin every Blue Jays’ season in the Wheel of Names and pick a player who played a significant number of games for the Jays, ideally a full season. This week, the Wheel of Names landed on the 2016 season, with the player we’ll look at in today’s article being Darwin Barney.

The Chicago Cubs drafted Barney in the fourth round of the 2007 draft out of Oregon State University. After parts of four seasons in the Cubs’ minor league system, the utility infielder made his big league debut with the Cubs in 2010, where he slashed .241/.294/.291 with no home runs in 85 plate appearances.

In 2011, Barney became a regular in the big league. That season, he slashed .276/.313/.353 with two home runs in 571 plate appearances for a 79 wRC+. He had a career year in 2012, slashing .254/.299/.354 with seven home runs in 588 plate appearances for a 75 wRC+ and a 1.9 fWAR. Thanks to 28 Defensive Runs Saved at the keystone, Barney won the National League Gold Glove for the position.

The next season saw Barney hit a rut, slashing .208/.266/.303 with seven home runs in 55 plate appearances for a career-worst 54 wRC+ and a -0.3 fWAR. Barney started the 2014 season slashing .230/.265/.328 with two home runs in 217 plate appearances, but was designated for assignment by the Cubs and traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers. He finished the year off well, slashing .303/.467/.424 with a home run in 45 plate appearances.

Barney had limited time with the Dodgers in 2015 before being designated for assignment. After playing with the Oklahoma City Dodgers, Barney was eventually traded to the Blue Jays on September 13, 2015, making him ineligible for their postseason run that season. Still, Barney slashed .304/.333/.609 with two home runs in 26 plate appearances to finish out the 2015 season.

Used as a utility player with the Jays, Barney had a solid 2016 season, slashing .269/.322/.373 with four home runs in 306 plate appearances for an 88 wRC+ and a 1.4 fWAR, the third-highest total of his career. His final season in the big leagues was in 2017 with the Jays, where he slashed .232/.275/.327 with six home runs in 362 plate appearances, posting a career-worst -0.7 fWAR.

Most recently, Barney served as Oregon State University’s assistant coach. He was also hired to serve as the Texas Rangers’ Triple-A manager, but the 2020 minor league season was cancelled, and he left shortly after.