Daric Barton

Daric Barton
Barton at bat against Seattle in August 2008
Oakland Athletics — No. 10
First baseman
Born: August 16, 1985 (1985-08-16) (age 26) Springfield, Vermont
Bats: Left	Throws: Right
MLB debut
September 10, 2007 for the Oakland Athletics
Career statistics (through 2011)
Batting average	.252
Home runs	26
Runs batted in	157
Teams
Oakland Athletics (2007-present)
Career highlights and awards
Fielding Bible Award (2010)

Daric William Barton (born August 16, 1985, in Springfield, Vermont) nicknamed "D.B.", is a Major League Baseball first baseman who plays for the Oakland Athletics.

Barton was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2003 Major League Baseball Draft in the 1st round as the 28th overall player selected. He was selected right out of Marina High School in Huntington Beach, California. Barton had signed on to attend Cal State Fullerton and play baseball there, but accepted a one million dollar signing bonus from the Cardinals instead.

Minor league career

Barton began his professional career with the Johnson City Cardinals (Cardinals' Rookie League affiliate) in 2003, mainly playing as a catcher. In 54 games, he batted .291 with 4 home runs.

In 2004, he advanced to the Peoria Chiefs, the then Cardinals Single-A team. He played in just 90 games for the Chiefs, batting .313 with 13 home runs. He was named to the Midwest League Postseason All-Star team. He led the Midwest League in on-base percentage (.445), was third in the league in batting average (.313), and was fourth in the league in slugging percentage (.511).

On December 19, 2004, he was traded along with pitchers Dan Haren and Kiko Calero to the Oakland Athletics for starting pitcher Mark Mulder.

Barton was #32 out of 100 on Baseball America's Top 100 Prospects list in 2005. After having an emergency appendectomy part way through spring training, Barton started the 2005 season slowly, but ended the year with a .317 batting average. He spent most of 2005 with the Single-A Stockton Ports of the California League, but also appeared in 56 games for the Double-A Midland RockHounds of the Texas League. He was also selected to play in the All-Star Futures Game at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. With the Cardinals, Barton played catcher, but the Athletics moved Barton to first base due to concerns with Barton's ability behind the plate, the negative impact catching can have on the development of a young hitter, and because the Athletics had a number of more advanced catching prospects (Kurt Suzuki and Landon Powell).

In 2006, Barton once again appeared on Baseball America's Top 100 Prospects list, this time ranking at #28. He was also ranked as the Athletics #1 prospect. He played for the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats in 2006, but due to injuries, played in only 43 games. He batted just .259 with 2 home runs in those 43 games.

In 2007, Barton appeared on Baseball America's Top 100 Prospects list, this time ranked at just #67. He was ranked as the Athletics #2 prospect behind outfielder Travis Buck, who ranked at #50 on the Top 100 Prospects list. Barton began the 2007 season slowly with the Sacramento River Cats, hitting just .221 in April and .273 in May. He finally got started in June when he hit .454 in 27 games. He was named to the Pacific Coast League Mid-Season All-Star team on July 11. He finished the 2007 minor league season with a .293 batting average and 9 home runs in 137 games.

Following the 2007 minor league season, the River Cats advanced to the first round of the playoffs. They played the Salt Lake Bees, the Angels Triple-A affiliate. In the first round, Barton batted .550 (11-20) with 10 RBIs. He had a power surge with 4 home runs and one of the home runs was a decisive one in Game 5 as it led the River Cats into the second round of the playoffs. He did not join the team for the second round as he had his contract purchased by the Athletics major league club on September 10.^[1] He wasn't expected to get called up until the River Cats season was over.

Major league career

Barton made his major league debut on September 10, 2007, against the Seattle Mariners. In his first two plate appearances, he walked both times. In his third plate appearance, he had his first major league hit off Ryan Feierabend, which was a double. On September 14, Barton hit his first major league home run which was against Kason Gabbard of the Texas Rangers.

Barton played in 18 games for the Athletics in 2007. He reached base safely in all 18 games via a hit or a walk.^[2] In those 18 games played, he hit .347 (25-72) with 4 home runs and 8 RBIs.

In 2008, Barton was the Athletics' starting first baseman. He batted just .226 with 9 home runs and 47 RBI in 140 games. During the All-Star break, Barton dove into a shallow pool and hit his head on the bottom. He suffered a jammed neck and had to get staples to close a cut on his head.^[3]

On April 5, 2009, the day before the A's season opener, Barton was demoted to Triple-A Sacramento.

Barton began the 2010 season as the A's starting first baseman. On April 25, 2010, he fractured his finger while tumbling into the Cleveland Indian's dugout.^[4] He won a Fielding Bible Award for his statistically-based defensive excellence during the year ^[5] and led his team in runs (79), hits (152), and doubles (33). He also led the AL in walks with 110, and was second in MLB only to Prince Fielder.^[6]

Barton was once again selected as the starting first baseman for the Athletics at the beginning of the 2011 season. On June 22nd the A's sent Barton back to AAA Sacramento to make room for Mark Ellis. Barton was hitting .212 with no home runs at the time.

Scouting Report

Barton hits for average and is known to be a patient hitter who hits for a high on-base percentage and walks more than he strikes out. In 5 minor league seasons, he had 313 walks as opposed to 266 strikeouts. In 2010, Barton was one of only two players in MLB to have more walks than strikeouts, the other of which was Albert Pujols.^[6]

References

1. ^ Urban, Mychael. "Notes: Barton called up to see action", MLB.com, September 10, 2007. Accessed September 13, 2007.
2. ^ Smith, Matt. "Notes: Geren reflects on first season", MLB.com, September 30, 2007. Accessed October 1, 2007.
3. ^ "Notes: Oakland's Barton jams neck after dive into shallow pool", Yahoo.com, July 20, 2008. Accessed October 7, 2008.
4. ^ The San Jose Mercury News (April 25, 2010). "Barton has fractured finger". CBS Sports. http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/players?tag=fastFacts.mlb;Players. Retrieved April 26, 2010. 
5. ^ Gleeman, Aaron (2010-11-01). "Yadier Molina leads fifth annual "Fielding Bible Awards"". NBCSports.com. http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/11/01/yadier-molina-leads-fifth-annual-fielding-bible-awards/. Retrieved 2010-11-11. "For those of us who have come to more or less ignore Gold Glove awards as a meaningful way to measure defensive excellence, the fifth annual Fielding Bible Awards were announced today." 
6. ^ ^{a b} McNeal, Stan. Patient Daric Barton walks the walk, Sporting News. Published February 25, 2011. Retrieved March 13, 2011.

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)

Persondata
Name	Barton, Daric
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	August 16, 1985
Place of birth	Springfield, Vermont
Date of death
Place of death