Dodgers All-Star Reveals True Feelings About Team Cutting Austin Barnes

If Austin Barnes' value to the Los Angeles Dodgers was based solely on his production as a hitter, he would have been designated for assignment a long time ago.

As it happened, Barnes persisted as the backup catcher for one of baseball's best teams for parts of 11 seasons — until Wednesday, when the Dodgers designated Barnes for assignment and promoted top prospect Dalton Rushing.

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More than just a routine transaction, cutting Barnes was the kind of roster move that resonates deeply inside a veteran clubhouse.

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— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 14, 2025

“I feel like when you look at some of the pillars in this clubhouse, he would be one of them,” third baseman Max Muncy said, via Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. “Just a guy who brought so much to this team off the field that you can’t really quantify that. It’s something that’s hard to really put into words how much he meant to this team, in this clubhouse, on the plane, in the dugout, on the road at the hotel. Just who he was to everybody.”

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Barnes slashed .223/.322/.338 in a major league career that began in 2015. He never drew more than 262 plate appearances in a single season.

In his best season at the plate, 2017, Barnes hit .289 with a .402 on-base percentage. His 138 OPS+ that year, combined with an October slump by Yasmani Grandal, made him the primary backstop in the National League Championship Series and World Series.

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Barnes appeared in 44 postseason games with the Dodgers over the years, collecting rings in 2020 and 2024. He caught the final out of the 2020 World Series, and appeared in five games against the Tampa Bay Rays as the Dodgers broke their 32-year championship drought.

That the Dodgers waited as long as they did to cut Barnes speaks to his value in the organization.

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“Any time someone gets DFA’d, it’s always tough,” Muncy said. “They’re here, and then you show up the next day and it’s like they never existed. That’s why this is such a tough business. You build friendships and then they’re just gone.”

Muncy is one of seven former All-Stars in the Dodgers' everyday lineup (only Michael Conforto and Tommy Edman have never been selected to an All-Star Game). Barnes never made an All-Star team, but the sentiments expressed by Muncy and others in the wake of Barnes' DFA speak to the affection the catcher generated among his teammates.

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