Dodgers Break Silence on Shocking Austin Barnes Decision

"Thank you Austin for all the contributions you made in Dodger blue and helping to bring two championships to Los Angeles," said the team via X, formerly known as Twitter.

It appears that there is a changing of the guard behind home plate as the Dodgers also announced that they are calling up their top prospect from the last two seasons, Dalton Rushing, another catcher. The 24-year-old will be Will Smith's new backup.

Barnes has been one of the most consistent pieces in the Dodgers organization since his arrival in 2015. He was first acquired via a trade that sent Dee Gordon and Miguel Rojas, among other pieces, to the Miami Marlins in exchange for himself and Kiké Hernández, among others involved.

This season, Barnes has been hitting .214 with 14 strikeouts in 42 at-bats.

Chris Taylor now becomes the longest-tenured position player on the Dodgers while Clayton Kershaw, set to return this week from a rehab assignment, has spent the most time in a Dodgers uniform among the current roster.

Barnes helped win four National League pennants during his time in Los Angeles, along with two World Series championships.

His best offensive season came in 2017, on the way to the first pennant he would help the Dodgers to, batting .289/.408/.486 with an OPS of .895, which were all career marks for the backstop.

A memorable moment in Barnes' career came in the 2020 World Series where he launched his second postseason home run in Game 3 of a currently tied series, shifting the momentum for a Dodgers team to return to the mountain top they had not seen since 1988. He then caught the final out of the World Series.

Barnes will be missed in a Dodgers uniform as fans will now hope that the young Rushing can fill his shoes behind home plate.

More to come on this story from Dodgers on SI.