Tucker Barnhart considers himself an unofficial psychologist.
It’s one of the reasons why Barnhart’s yearly routine includes arriving early to spring training. He always shows up by Feb. 1, and often in mid-January, with his family to escape the winter weather in his hometown of Indianapolis and connect with his pitching staff ahead of a new season.
As a catcher, he needs to know everything.
“I got to know how guys tick,” Barnhart told the Free Press on Friday. “Do they like to be yelled at? Do they like to be kind of patted on the back? Do they like to have conversations about stuff that’s not even relative to baseball? It’s what makes guys tick. It’s what helps me do my job as good as I can possibly do it, and in total, it helps our ballclub get to where we want to be.”
This year, Barnhart has a brand new team.
The Detroit Tigers acquired Barnhart, an eight-year MLB veteran and two-time Gold Glove winner, in a Nov. 3 trade with the Cincinnati Reds, then picked up his team option. The 31-year-old is tabbed as the Tigers’ starting catcher for the 2022 season.
“Detroit and the Tigers are going to get everything I got on a daily basis to bring a championship back to this city,” Barnhart said. “I’m very excited and ready to get going.”
One month later, on Dec. 2, Major League Baseball implemented a lockout upon the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement. MLB’s decision cut off all communication between team employees and players on the 40-man roster.
The players cannot use team facilities.
“A lot of those conversations (with pitchers) happen at the end of the bullpen or on the side before the bullpen starts,” said Barnhart, a visual learner, “so not even conversations we could really have now, without being in it and doing it. … I love that part of the game. I think it’s so underappreciated, the relationship you have with pitchers. There are so many layers to it.”
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If baseball had labor peace, Barnhart would already be in Lakeland, Florida, home of the Tigers’ spring training facility. Pitchers and catchers are scheduled for their first workout Feb. 16, followed by the first full-team workout Feb. 21. Grapefruit League play is supposed to begin Feb. 26.
But as of Sunday, MLB and the MLB Players Association haven’t agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement, so Barnhart is still training at ProX in Westfield and Feel Good Hitting in Carmel.
“I would be lying if I said it didn’t worry me a little bit,” said Barnhart, an MLBPA player representative since the most recent CBA was agreed to in November 2016. “We’re running out of time here. Hopefully, there’s some substantial progress made here within the next week or so. I feel like as long as we can get to spring training at some point in February, we should be just fine to start the season on time, as far as getting guys ready and things like that.
“Personally, I feel like I could get to spring training March 1 and be in a position where I’m ready to play come Opening Day (March 31). I think we’ll be just fine, but again, we’re getting down to the wire. Hopefully, like I said, there’s some progress to be made.”
Barnhart seems somewhat confident teams will play a full 162-game schedule.
“Listen, I’ll be very blunt, and I don’t mind saying this whatsoever,” Barnhart said. “I live my life optimistically, and I’d like to think, in a very layman’s way of putting it, there’s just so much money on both sides for us to lose out on games, in my opinion. That’s not from any bargaining meeting or anything like that. That’s just the way I’m looking at it, because I don’t want to look at it pessimistically.”
‘Playing the waiting game’
After the 2021 season, Barnhart returned to Indianapolis for the offseason with his wife, Sierra, and two children, 4-year-old Tatum and 18-month-old Benson.
A trade to the Tigers sparked an eventful offseason.
“A lot of moving parts,” he said.
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The family rented a condo in Birmingham, about 20 miles from Comerica Park. Barnhart drove to Michigan with his wife on Jan. 11 and dropped off some of their belongings. He also found a place to live in Lakeland for spring training.
His oldest son is in pre-kindergarten and will be pulled out of school whenever camp begins. All four family members will travel to Lakeland, then stay in Detroit for the season.
The details, though, are up in the air because of the lockout.
“It’s been a little bit of a headache,” Barnhart said. “We’ve tossed around any and every scenario as far as spring training is concerned. If it ends up being delayed, does it make sense to bring my whole family down for the whole time? Or do I go down for a little while, and then they come down for 10 days to break-up me being gone, then go back to Detroit, or go back to Indianapolis? We’ve kind of tossed around every situation.
“That’s added a little bit of a stressor, but thankfully, at the end of the day, if we had to hop in the car and drive 13 hours from Indianapolis, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. We’re in a good situation, so we’re just playing it by ear and playing the waiting game.”
‘It’s part of the business’
Tigers outfielder Robbie Grossman, who doesn’t have kids, said he can only imagine juggling the uncertainties of spring training with young children.
Grossman is coming off the best season of his career — 23 home runs, 20 stolen bases — and has been “locked in” at Fairchild Sports Performance in Houston. He lived in Tampa throughout last year’s spring training and will do the same this time around.
“I understand it’s the business, but there’s a lot of anxiety (for some players) wondering where you’re going to be, what you’re doing to do and where you’re going to live,” Grossman said Thursday. “It’s a tough time right now, but we’ll see the end of it.”
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Grossman, a nine-year MLB veteran, isn’t sour about the lockout.
“I mean, this is part of the business,” he said. “It’s a tough situation. Players before us have stood up for what we have now, and we have to do the same going forward. That being said, we all want to play baseball.”
Casey Mize, the No. 1 overall pick in 2018, echoed a similar message.
The 24-year-old led the Tigers with 150⅓ innings and 30 starts as a rookie last season. He lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, and was training at the Tigers’ complex in Lakeland until the lockout forced him to switch facilities.
“The players definitely want some change, and the owners aren’t wanting as much,” Mize said last Monday. “Whatever change happens is good for the sport. I think change needs to happen, and hopefully it’ll promote this sport and put everybody in a position to succeed. That’s the best thing that could happen. Hopefully, they get something figured out so we can go back to business.”
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Before the lockout, Barnhart spoke frequently with Tigers manager AJ Hinch and pitching coach Chris Fetter.
The defense-first catcher, lauded for his game-calling, identified with Hinch, a former MLB catcher whom Barnhart said he respects, about the influence a catcher has on his pitching staff and the team’s success.
This season, Barnhart gets to work with a promising but young starting rotation: Casey Mize, Eduardo Rodriguez, Tarik Skubal and Matt Manning. Fetter gave him the rundown on some individual pitchers and what to expect from the analytics department.
“And now with the inability (to talk with coaches),” Barnhart said, “it’s put some things on hold that we were talking about as far as getting into and understanding the way we get data and how it differs from what I did in Cincinnati. That’s been a little bit of a speed bump, but I think we’ll be just fine once spring training starts.”
‘They know I’m going to be ready’
The communication barrier isn’t ideal for teams with players recovering from a significant procedure, such as Tommy John surgery. The Tigers surely wish they were speaking to pitching prospect Alex Faedo.
He joined the 40-man roster in November 2020. The next month, the right-hander underwent elbow reconstruction.
Faedo lives in Lakeland but got booted from the Tigers’ complex, along with Mize and Manning (another Lakeland resident), when the lockout started. Beforehand, Tigers rehab coordinator Corey Tremble paired Faedo with Jeremy Maddox, the owner of Optimal Performance and Physical Therapies in Tampa.
“It’s just different than the last 10 months or so of the rehab,” Faedo said Friday, adding he should be ready for games in mid-March. “Definitely not bad, you just got to do it on your own and trust the plan that they gave me for my throwing. With the PT, I’m sure (the Tigers) talked to Jeremy a lot about things I need to work on.”
On Jan. 11, Faedo tossed his first of six bullpens so far in his rehab program. The 26-year-old is scheduled to face live hitters in early March. A delayed spring training could complicate his ability to follow the script.
“I don’t know how that’s going to go,” Faedo said. “I guess I’ll just have to find somewhere to throw to hitters.”
One newcomer to the 40-man roster, multi-positional prospect Kody Clemens, is training in Houston at KW 32, a facility owned and operated by former MLB pitcher Kip Wells. He is preparing to be in spring training on Feb. 21 for full-squad workouts but will continue his routine in Texas if there’s a delay.
The Tigers added Clemens — a second baseman, first baseman and right fielder — to the 40-man in November, after the 25-year-old crushed 18 home runs with a .458 slugging percentage for Triple-A Toledo in 2021. He expects to be in the mix for a spot on the Opening Day roster.
“I’m excited for that competition,” Clemens said. “I’m excited to go head-to-head with some of my teammates. At the end of the day, we’re all trying to make it to the big leagues.”
But just like his teammates, Clemens is waiting to hear from the Tigers.
“It’s kind of weird,” he said. “Usually, I’m on the phone once a week with somebody asking me how my training is going and all that stuff. But it’s all right. They know I’m going to be ready. I won’t show up unprepared.”
‘We are sending things back and forth’
The first sign of CBA progress occurred Jan. 24, as the MLB Players Association dropped its push to change the service-time requirement of six years before reaching free agency. The next day, MLB withdrew its request to eliminate salary arbitration.
Still, there’s a long way to go until players and teams meet for spring training.
“I look at life as a very optimistic person,” Grossman said. “When challenges come to me, I make the best decision and cross that bridge when I have to, but I’m optimistic. I want to be down in Florida playing baseball. I can’t wait for it.”
For an example of the incremental progress and vast separation, MLB agreed to the union’s proposal for a performance-pool bonus for pre-arbitration-eligible players (less than three years of service time).
MLB offered to put $10 million from central revenues in the pot. The union countered with a $105 million bonus pool for these players.
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Other sticking points in negotiations include the minimum salary, luxury tax, revenue sharing, alleged service time manipulation, amateur draft and playoffs. The union is willing to expand the 10-team postseason to 12 teams, but MLB wants a 14-team format.
“What you’re reading is basically where we’re at,” Barnhart said. “We’re at a point now where we are sending things back and forth. What you see on social media is where we’re at. It is what is it, I guess. I hate using that term, but that’s where we’re at.”
It’s unclear when MLB and the MLBPA plan to hold their next negotiation about core economics.
As the clock ticks, the likelihood of a delayed spring training increases.
“I don’t think anyone wants that to happen,” Grossman said.
As the Tigers do every offseason, the organization compiled an offseason program for each of their players. Everyone should be on track for now. If spring training starts significantly late, Barnhart assumes pitchers will be at the greatest risk for injury.
Expanding rosters for the season hasn’t been discussed in the negotiations.
“I think we’re all hoping that we’re in spring training on time,” Barnhart said. “If it does look like we are going to be delayed, if it gets to that point, I think we’ll absolutely have to have that discussion again. You don’t want guys getting hurt, and the injury risk will jump exponentially if we’re in a shortened, condensed spring training.”
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Amid baseball’s ninth work stoppage, Barnhart is optimistic about the labor negotiations and ready to report for spring training. He saw the Tigers’ foundation for great success as an opponent last season, is passionate about this year’s team and expects to play winning baseball.
But the reality is, nobody wins until the MLB lockout ends.
“I’m really hoping, for the game’s sake, that we can come to an agreement,” Barnhart said, “just so we can get everybody back and trend in the direction we’re supposed to be.”
“I miss baseball,” Grossman added. “That’s the bottom line. Hopefully, sooner than later, we can get it back.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.