Brian Deon Barton (born April 25, 1982) is an American former professional

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

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

and

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...

Early life

Barton attended Westchester High School in his hometown of Los Angeles. During his freshman year in 1997, Barton hit .407 and was the team's MVP and batting champion. In 1998, he batted .320 and led his team to the conference title. Barton led his team to the conference title again during his junior year in 1999, while batting .408 with 4

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

and was an All-Conference Second-Team pick. In his last season at Westchester, Barton had his best season. He was once again named the team's MVP and batting champion while hitting .500 with 9 home runs, 47 RBI, and 14

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

s. He was also an All-City First-Team pick and was selected the All-Star Conference MVP. Above all of that, Barton's team won the conference championship. Following his senior season, Barton entered the

Major League Baseball Draft The first-year player draft is the primary mechanism of Major League Baseball (MLB) for assigning amateur baseball players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur baseball clubs to its teams. The draft order is determined based on a lo ...

. He was not selected until the 38th round, when the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

took him as the 1,137th overall pick. Barton did not sign, opting to attend

Loyola Marymount University Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. It is located on the west side of the city near Playa Vista. LMU is the parent school to Loyola Law School, which is located ...

College career

At Loyola Marymount, he played in 33 games as a freshman in . Barton batted just .196 with 2 home runs and 7 RBI in 46 at bats. Following the season, he transferred to the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

. Barton sat out the season but returned to action in , batting .330 with 7 home runs and 54 RBI, leading his team to the

College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is an annual baseball tournament held in June in Omaha, Nebraska. The MCWS is the culmination of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divisi ...

Final 8. In , Barton played in 57 games and tied for first with a .371

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

. After the 2004 season, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the

Orleans Cardinals The Orleans Firebirds, formerly the Orleans Cardinals, are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Orleans, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's East Division. The Firebirds play ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

Professional career

Cleveland Indians

Following his final season at the University of Miami, Barton was not drafted and signed with the

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 ...

on August 13, 2004. Because he signed with less than one month of the season left in the minor leagues, he did not play in 2004 In , Barton split the season between the Single-A

Lake County Captains The Lake County Captains are a Minor League Baseball team in Eastlake, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, that plays in the Midwest League as the High-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. The Captains joined the Class A Midwest League following t ...

and the High Single-A

Kinston Indians The Kinston Indians were a Minor League Baseball team of the Carolina League (CL) located in Kinston, North Carolina, from 1978 to 2011. They played their home games at Grainger Stadium, which opened in 1949. The team began play in 1978 as the Ki ...

. Barton batted .414 with 4 home runs in limited action with Lake County (35 games) and .274 with 3 home runs in 64 games with Kinston. Barton earned the player of the week award twice, one while he was with Lake County and another one with Kinston. Barton played for Kinston again in but also spent some time within Double-A with the

Akron Aeros The Akron RubberDucks are a Minor League Baseball team based in Akron, Ohio. The team, which plays in the Eastern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. They play in Canal Park, located in downtown Akron, which seats 7,630 ...

. Barton hit .308 with 13 home runs and 57 RBI with Kinston and in 42 games with Akron, batted .351 with 6 home runs and 26 RBI. Barton was awarded with the player of the week award once when he was with Kinston and was also named to the

Carolina League The Carolina League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated along the Atlantic Coast of the United States since 1945. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 unti ...

midseason and postseason All-Star games. After the 2006 season, Barton was named by ''

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' is a sports enterprise that covers baseball at every level, including MLB, with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in the MiLB, college, high school, and international leagues. It is currently published in the form o ...

'' as a High Class-A All-Star. Barton was 86th on ''Baseball America's'' top 100 prospects for and was the fourth highest prospect in the Indians organization. Barton began the season for the Akron Aeros and in 106 games, batted .314 with 9 home runs and 59 RBI. He was also named to the Eastern League midseason All-Star game. Barton also spent some time in Triple-A with the

Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen Fiel ...

. His production dropped as in 25 games, he batted just .264 with a home run. Barton underwent knee surgery in September.

St. Louis Cardinals

After the 2007 season, the Indians did not add him to the 40-man roster, leaving him unprotected for the Rule 5 draft. Rumors arose that Barton was going to be selected first by the

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. Since its inception ...

and then subsequently traded to the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...

. This did not happen however as the Rays took

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

Tim Lahey from the

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 ...

. Barton was then selected by the

with the 10th pick. Barton made the Cardinals' opening day roster and made his debut on April 1, 2008, singling in his first at-bat. His first Major League home run came on May 27 against

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 ...

pitcher

Shawn Chacón Shawn Anthony Chacón (born December 23, 1977) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He last played in Major League Baseball with the Houston Astros in 2008. During his career, he threw an 88–92 mph sinker, a big curveball, ...

. In 82 games with the Cardinals, he hit .268.

Atlanta Braves

On April 20, 2009, Barton was traded to the

for relief pitcher

Blaine Boyer Blaine Thomas Boyer (born July 11, 1981) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in MLB for the Atlanta Braves, St. Louis Cardinals, Arizona Diamondbacks, New York Mets, Minnesota Twins, San Diego Padres, Milwaukee Brewers, ...

. He appeared in only one game for the Braves during the 2009 season, spending most of his time in AAA with the

Gwinnett Braves The Gwinnett Stripers are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. They play their home games at Coolray Field in unincorporated Gwinnett County, Georgia (with a Lawrencevil ...

. He appeared as a pinch runner and was caught stealing second in his only attempt.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Barton signed a minor league contract with the

on December 18, 2009. The deal included an invitation to spring training. He was released by the Dodgers on March 31, 2010.

Cincinnati Reds

In 2012 Barton signed a minor league contract 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 ...

Atlantic League

Barton played in the Atlantic League in 2010 with the

Newark Bears The Newark Bears were an American minor league professional baseball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They were a member of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball and, later, the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball. T ...

and

Bridgeport Bluefish The Bridgeport Bluefish were an American minor league baseball team based in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The team was a member of the Liberty Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, which was not affiliated with Major League Baseba ...

. He appeared in 102 combined games with the clubs and hit .348. And the

Southern Maryland Blue Crabs The Southern Maryland Blue Crabs are an American professional baseball team based in Waldorf, Maryland. They are members of the North Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, an independent "partner league" of Major League Baseb ...

in 2011. On June 2, 2014, the

Sugar Land Skeeters The Sugar Land Space Cowboys are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros Major League Baseball club. They are located in Sugar Land, Texas, part of the Greater Houston metr ...

announced that the club has acquired Barton from the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs in exchange for future considerations.

References

External links

, or , or , o
University of Miami Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barton, Brian 1982 births Living people African-American baseball players Akron Aeros players American expatriate baseball players in Mexico Atlanta Braves players Baseball players from Los Angeles Bridgeport Bluefish players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Cardenales de Lara players Gwinnett Braves players Kinston Indians players Lake County Captains players Leones del Caracas players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Louisville Bats players Loyola Marymount Lions baseball players Major League Baseball outfielders Memphis Redbirds players Mexican League baseball left fielders Miami Hurricanes baseball players Newark Bears players Piratas de Campeche players Southern Maryland Blue Crabs players Orleans Firebirds players St. Louis Cardinals players Sugar Land Skeeters players Westchester High School (Los Angeles) alumni 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people