Reds C Barnhart, 2017 Gold Glove winner, stays a humble Hoosier
CINCINNATI (WISH) – A Gold Glove is not going to change Indianapolis native Tucker Barnhart.
Just months removed from becoming the first Reds catcher since Johnny Bench in 1977 to bring home the National League’s top defensive award, the Rawlings Gold Glove Award, Barnhart still talks like that 299th pick back in 2009.
The former Brownsburg resident said on his early days in Cincinnati, “I would lay in the weeds, exactly. I would sit in my locker, stare at my locker and, even if I had been there and got all my stuff done, I just didn’t say a word because I didn’t want anyone to yell at me.”
Reds Manager Jim Riggleman said, “For Tucker to step in and get it (the 2017 Gold Glove award), I think it just speaks to how much the league has recognized how good he is.
“He knows the responsibilities he has and he is certainly living up to them.”
The chances of Barnhart slamming his batting helmet into 100 pieces went down exponentially last September. The Reds offered up a four-year, $16 million deal to keep him in Cincinnati and then the real prize: Barnhart’s firstborn son Tatum arrived at home.
“As long as he is OK, as long as my family is good, that is all that matters,” Barnhart said. “I come out to the ballpark, and it helps free my mind. I don’t want to sound like baseball is second, but it kind of is and it makes it somewhat nice, to be honest.”
The daddy day care doesn’t stop there. The Reds pitching staff is young and continues to lean on the 27-year-old behind the plate.
“You name it, I’ve probably said it when I’ve gone to the mound. Whether it be advice, asking them what they are doing after the game, asking them how their family is or kind of yelling at somebody a little bit.”
What does Barnhart fall back on? It is the love from his hometown fans back in Indianapolis.
“The support from the city, the support from Brownsburg, the support from the state in general has been nothing short of amazing,” Barnhart said. “To be able to pretty much play in your backyard and live out a childhood dream that I had ever since I could remember, it is awesome.”