LAKELAND, Fla. — Detroit Tigers catcher Tucker Barnhart is listed on the roster as a left-handed hitter.
He’s actually a switch-hitter.
The 31-year-old has taken more than 1,900 at-bats as a natural left-handed hitter throughout his career, mainly against right-handed pitchers. For the past two seasons, Barnhart has operated solely as a lefty in the batter’s box. But he also has 356 career at-bats as a right-handed hitter.
“I got tired of getting my (expletive) kicked,” Barnhart said Tuesday. “But as I’ve gotten older, I figured out … how to maintain my swing from both sides. I went into it not toying with the idea of getting back to it but making it a priority. I’ve developed a routine that I feel like is going to maintain my swing from both sides that is time effective.”
So, Barnhart is back to switch-hitting.
Barnhart’s hitting coach, Benny Craig at Feel Good Hitting in Indianapolis, suggested the eight-year MLB veteran return to switch-hitting immediately after the 2021 season. Barnhart took swings from both sides during Tuesday’s batting practice at the TigerTown backfields in spring training.
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The Tigers learned about this development Thursday, roughly an hour after MLB’s lockout ended. Before then, players on 40-man rosters weren’t allowed to communicate with their organizations.
“He’s fully committed to it,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said. “It just adds value to himself, adds value to our team. Maybe we get a platoon advantage. I think what he’s hoping is it grabs him a couple extra at-bats in the middle to latter part of the game. I love the creativity of taking a risk.”
In August 2019, Barnhart divorced himself from the right side of the plate, after posting a .219 batting average with five home runs in his 356 at-bats. He had enough defensive responsibilities as a catcher.
Returning to his switch-hitting ways hasn’t been a difficult task.
“It’s something that I’ve done for a long time,” said Barnhart, whom the Tigers acquired from the Cincinnati Reds in a November trade. “It wasn’t that I was completely terrible as a right-handed hitter. It wasn’t that I was lighting the world on fire, either. It’s one of those things, I’m committed to being the best left- and right-handed hitter that I can be.”
As a lefty hitter against righty pitchers, Barnhart owns a .256 batting average with 45 home runs in 1,831 at-bats. In left-on-left situations, he is a .192 hitter with one homer in 78 at-bats.
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“I was pleased with the returns just hitting left-handed, but I think for me, personally, and for our team, it makes me the most valuable for us,” Barnhart said. “And selfishly, (the most valuable) for me, too.”
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.