Mets Add Another Valuable Asset To Buck Showalter's Coaching Staff

The Mets have added another valuable asset to Buck Showalter's coaching staff.

At this point on the baseball calendar, spring training would've just begun its second week of action. However, MLB and MLBPA have yet to agree on a new collective bargaining agreement, which has the lockout creeping up on three months since the work stoppage was put into effect by the owners. 

In the meantime, a number of clubs around the league have instead held minor league mini-camps at their spring training facilities. And at said mini-camps, top prospects and minor league players are able to work out with the big-league coaching staff, as well as the organization's instructors and developmental coaches. For now, this is all the interaction that coaches are allowed to have with players, and it excludes major leaguers. 

On Friday, Feb. 18, which is when the Mets kicked off their own mini-camp at Clover Park in Port St. Lucie, Fla., manager Buck Showalter revealed a surprise addition to the major league coaching staff.

The Mets have hired University of Princeton alumnus and former Blue Jays pitcher Danny Barnes to serve as an assistant coach.

New York created a new position for Barnes on their staff, but did not get into the specifics about his role. Albeit, Showalter indicated that Barnes will be doing "a little bit of everything" and compared him to a "utility infielder."

“He’s played in the big leagues, knows his way around the major league locker room,” Showalter said (link via Danny Abriano of SNY). “…We didn’t get too titled up. … He can do a little bit of everything.”

Barnes, a Long Island native, was selected in the 35th-round of the 2010 MLB Draft by the Blue Jays. He went onto pitch three seasons in the majors for Toronto, posting a 4.33 ERA across 119 appearances out of the Blue Jays' bullpen from 2016 to 2018.

Barnes pitched with the Long Island Ducks in the Atlantic League last season. The 32-year-old was attending graduate school at Columbia University, but recently put these plans on hold to accept the Mets' offer. According to Showalter, Barnes will have the ability to resume his pursuit of a graduate degree in the future. 

A current MLB scout, who was teammates with Barnes at the University of Princeton, and then later in the Blue Jays' minor league system, was kind enough to share what he believes the Mets are getting as a result of this hire. 

"(Barnes is) a perfect mix of (a guy with) MLB playing experience and a high level understanding of the analytics," an MLB scout/former teammate of Barnes told Inside the Mets over the weekend. 

"(He) should be able to communicate with players on how to apply what the analytics department is flagging that is helping/hurting their performance. (It's) hard to find a smarter person that played in the big leagues."

1/2 Spoke to a former college/minor league teammate of Mets new assistant coach Danny Barnes:

“He’s a perfect mix of MLB playing experience and a high level understanding of the analytics. Should be able to communicate with players how to apply….

— Pat Ragazzo (@ragazzoreport) February 20, 2022

Although we do not know much about Barnes' personality yet, his ex-teammate described him as "soft spoken, thoughtful and insightful."

These traits can be critical for an assistant coach since a key part of the job is connecting with the players in the locker room. 

While Barnes isn't the only coach with major league playing experience on Showalter's staff (Jeremy Hefner, Eric Chavez, Joey Cora, Wayne Kirby), he comes from the same era as a majority of the roster, having last appeared in the big leagues in 2019. 

Showalter's staff has a little bit of everything, from old school to new school. Now, they have added another valuable asset in Barnes, who knows his way around a clubhouse and can filter the information he receives from the front office in order to simplify the data for his players. 

This is an aspect that Chavez has stressed the importance of as well. It also appears to be a common trend amongst several members on Showalter's coaching staff, possibly revealing a slight pattern surrounding the types of personalities that the new Mets' skipper and general manager Billy Eppler have targeted.