Welcome to LA, Austin Barnes!

As you surely know by now, the final player involved in the Dee Gordon trade is in the midst of his Dodger/Major League debut this afternoon.  Unfortunately, he hasn't exactly been given a warm welcome by the Padres.  As I write this little blurb, the Dodgers are currently behind 9-0 to San Diego, and it doesn't appear it'll get any better.  So, instead of wasting away in front of the boob-tube I figured I'd formerly welcome Austin Barnes to Los Angeles by making a new fantasy Baseball card and sharing it here.  Check it out above.  I used a photograph taken by Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2015 during spring training and the 1974 Topps Baseball card design.  BTW, in today's game Austin Barnes is wearing number #65.

As you'll recall, I had previously written about Barnes when the December trade sending Dee Gordon to Miami was originally made.  You can check that out here.  At the time, Austin was a multi-positional player, but it quickly became clear that he would be concentrating most of his efforts behind the dish for the Dodgers. 

Per a Dodger press release:

Barnes, 25, is making his first appearance on an active Major League roster after batting .290 with five doubles, three home runs and 13 RBI in 29 games at Triple-A. Barnes has drawn more walks (14) than strikeouts (13) this season, with a .390 on-base percentage, and has hit safely in his last eight games with Oklahoma City, including going 1-for-3 last night at Las Vegas. The Riverside native was acquired by the Dodgers in a seven-player trade with Miami on Dec. 10, 2014 and was originally selected by the Marlins in the ninth round of the 2011 First-Year Player Draft out of Arizona State University.

He was called up due to Yasmani Grandal's recent concussion-related injury.  Hopefully Grandal will be OK, and it's been suggested that he should be back with the Dodger shortly.  Unfortunately, as a hockey fan I've come to understand that you can't put a timetable on concussion issues.  I am glad to know, though, that the Dodgers are taking this kind of injury seriously.  It wasn't too long ago when Grandal would've been expected to get back out there right away. 

Back to Barnes, Gabe Kapler posted up an interesting comment on twitter earlier today:

Austin Barnes is about to make his ML debut for the @Dodgers. You don't know him yet. You will...and you'll like it.

— gabe kapler (@gabekapler) May 24, 2015

I hope he can become a solid backstop for the Dodgers, and I think this early cup-of-coffee for him can only add to his experience.  Heck, I think the shellacking he's experiencing in today's game will help build character.  It is now 10-0 Padres as I prepare to put up this post.

Below are the career stats for Austin Barnes, via Baseball-Reference:

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