GLENDALE, Ariz. — The longest-tenured position player on the Dodgers’ roster prefers to keep his head down while focusing on the daily grind, even as the potential end of an era looms. Austin Barnes is as decorated as anyone on the current roster when it comes to team accomplishments, with two World Series championship rings and four appearances in the Fall Classic. The SoCal kid on the hometown team has 10 seasons of major-league experience, with more than 8½ years of official service time, and every one of his previous seasons has ended in the postseason. Barnes has 44 games of playoff experience, 17 of which have come in World Series games. He even caught the final strike of the 2020 World Series, flipping his catcher’s mask in the air before jamming the baseball in his back pocket to later present as a keepsake. “There’s not many guys playing today that have caught the last out of a World Series game and that have been a part of an organization for so long,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I think he understands the fabric of and culture of our club. He’s one of the glue guys, he really is. “Guys respect him, and he does whatever we need from him. He’s one of the guys I count on for consistency and messaging and also performance.” The Riverside native could be gone by now, but the front office would not have it. Barnes signed a two-year contract extension midway through the 2022 season that paid him through 2024. Yet he is still here, in 2025, occupying his familiar corner locker in the Camelback Ranch clubhouse. In a week to remember this past fall, Barnes celebrated the Dodgers’ World Series title in New York , rode atop a bus through downtown Los Angeles amid 250,000 revelers two days later in the championship parade , and waited just three days more to learn that the club was picking up his $3.5 million option for 2025 . After a series of life-changing events, he refuses to make a big deal about any of them. “You know, I don’t really like to look too far ahead or too far behind,” Barnes said after playing in Sunday’s Cactus League game against the Athletics. “I think there will be a time for that. I’ve been very lucky to be on really good teams, playing in some important games. I couldn’t ask for a better thing than to play for the Dodgers.” The club’s contract option had no buyout clause. The Dodgers could have let Barnes walk at no cost and found a veteran backup for less. But the steady presence behind the plate, who has served as Clayton Kershaw’s regular catcher, continues to have value to the club. “I think me and (Kershaw) relate just to the kind of competitors we are, whether we’re playing basketball or ping pong or golf,” Barnes said. “Coming up, I feel like he’s been in the league since I was in the third grade but he likes to remind me that he’s only a year older than me. But it’s awesome to be able to go out there and go to war with him.” Quiet by nature, the Arizona State alumnus studies behind the scenes to make sure he is prepared as anybody at calling a game. His 59 games (42 starts) as Will Smith’s backup last season were the lowest of his career, not counting the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, and yet he never cut corners with his preparation time. Without any guarantees beyond this season, Barnes’ Dodgers days could be coming to a close, but his primary concern still is to assist others in order to bring about another playoff run. “I try to strike a balance, but I realize here, with how many good pitchers we have, that as a catcher, if you didn’t take care of the defensive side … they’re trusting you,” Barnes said about trying to strike a balance of being prepared for the staff while also trying to stay sharp as a hitter. “The organization has put me in some big games for a reason. They trust me behind the plate and the way I can navigate a lineup. Yeah, you take pride on playing both sides of the baseball, but defense is very important.”
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