Brandon Michael Barnes (born May 15, 1986) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) for the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fie ...

and

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...

and in the

KBO League The KBO League (), officially the Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League, is the highest level league of baseball in South Korea. The KBO League was founded with six franchises in 1982 and is the most popular sports league in South Korea. The Kia Tigers ar ...

for the

Hanwha Eagles The Hanwha Eagles ( ko, 한화 이글스) are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Daejeon. They are a member of the KBO League. The Eagles' home ballpark is Daejeon Hanbat Baseball Stadium. The Eagles have won the Korean Series on ...

Amateur career

Born in

Orange, California Orange is a city located in North Orange County, California. It is approximately north of the county seat, Santa Ana, California, Santa Ana. Orange is unusual in this region because many of the homes in its Old Town District were built before ...

, Barnes attended

Katella High School Katella High School is a public high school in Anaheim, California, located in the Southeast Anaheim region of the city and is part of the Anaheim Union High School District. It serves 2,700 students in grades nine through twelve. The school's mas ...

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most p ...

, where he was a standout in baseball and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

. Growing up, Barnes played travel baseball with

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

starting pitcher In baseball (hardball or softball), a starting pitcher or starter is the first pitcher in the game for each team. A pitcher is credited with a game started if they throw the first pitch to the opponent's first batter of a game. Starting pit ...

Phil Hughes Philip Joseph Hughes (born June 24, 1986) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, Minnesota Twins, and San Diego Padres from 2007 through 2018. He stands tal ...

, and the pair also played against

Mark Trumbo Mark Trumbo (born January 16, 1986) is an American former professional baseball first baseman and outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim from 2010 through 2013, for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2 ...

. A talented

free safety Safety is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free safety and the strong safety. Their dut ...

in football, Barnes did not even play baseball during his senior year at Katella High, and signed a letter of intent to play football at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, but withdrew after a coaching change. Barnes attended

Cypress College Cypress College is a public community college in Cypress, California. It is part of the California Community Colleges System and belongs to the North Orange County Community College District. It offers a variety of general education (55 associat ...

, a junior college in

Cypress, California Cypress is a city in northwestern Orange County within Southern California. Its population was 50,151 at the 2020 census. History The first people living in the area now known as Cypress were the Gabrieleno, a Native American tribe of the Ton ...

, where he returned to playing baseball. Despite Cypress being NJCAA, several MLB players have competed for the school's program, including Trevor Hoffman,

Ben Francisco Louis Benjamin Francisco (born October 23, 1981), is an American former professional baseball outfielder, who is currently a major league scout for the Los Angeles Angels. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cleveland Indians, Phila ...

, Jason Vargas, and Gerald Laird. Barnes left Cypress to play professional baseball after only one season.

Professional career

Houston Astros

Barnes was called up to the majors for the first time on August 7, 2012. On May 27, 2013, Barnes hit the Astros first walk off hit of the season. He hit a ground rule double to deep right field, scoring Ronny Cedeno, as the Astros beat the

3 to 2. On July 19, 2013, Barnes hit for the cycle. He also has an inside the park home run.

Colorado Rockies

On December 3, 2013, Barnes was traded to the

with pitcher Jordan Lyles for outfielder Dexter Fowler and a player to be named later. On June 14, 2014, he struck a two-out, two-run inside the park home run off the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

Sergio Romo Sergio Francisco Romo (born March 4, 1983) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Acereros de Monclova of the Mexican League. He has previously played in MLB for the San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers, Tampa Bay Rays, Miami ...

to lead the Rockies to a 5-4 victory. On July 25, 2016, Barnes was designated for assignment. In three years in Denver, Barnes batted .249/.295/.376 with 10 home runs in 703 plate appearances. He was released on September 12, 2016.

Miami Marlins

On December 16, 2016, Barnes signed a minor league contract with the

Miami Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The franc ...

. He elected free agency on November 6, 2017.

Cleveland Indians

On November 30, 2017, Barnes signed a minor league contract with the

. He was assigned to AAA

Columbus Clippers The Columbus Clippers are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. They are located in Columbus, Ohio, and are named for speedy Merchant ship, mercha ...

to begin the 2018 season. The Indians purchased Barnes's contract on September 4, 2018. Barnes was outrighted to the minors on November 1, 2018; Barnes rejected the outright assignment, electing free agency instead. Barnes re-signed with the Indians on December 22, 2018, signing a minor league deal with an invitation to the Indians' 2019 major league spring training camp.

Minnesota Twins

On August 2, 2019, Barnes was traded to the

. He became a free agent following the 2019 season.

Cincinnati Reds

On February 17, 2020, Barnes signed a minor league deal with the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

. Barnes was released by the Reds organization on June 17, 2020.

Hanwha Eagles

On June 22, 2020, Barnes signed with the

of the

. He became a free agent following the season. On Dec 11, 2020, Barnes announced his retirement on his instagram.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnes, Brandon 1986 births Living people Sportspeople from Orange, California Baseball players from California Major League Baseball outfielders American expatriate baseball players in Australia American expatriate baseball players in South Korea Houston Astros players Colorado Rockies players Cleveland Indians players Greeneville Astros players Tri-City ValleyCats players Lexington Legends players Lancaster JetHawks players Corpus Christi Hooks players Round Rock Express players Peoria Javelinas players Oklahoma City RedHawks players Sydney Blue Sox players Leones del Caracas players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Albuquerque Isotopes players New Orleans Baby Cakes players Columbus Clippers players Rochester Red Wings players Águilas de Mexicali players Hanwha Eagles players