Detroit Tigers: Johhny Barbato spent 2018 battling injuries

With the 2018 season coming to a close, we are providing year-end grades to each Detroit Tigers player who donned the Old English D in 2018.

The Detroit Tigers completed the first year of what looks to be a multi-year rebuilding process. While the team was hard to watch at times, there is still plenty to evaluate from this season as we look ahead to the next few years.

As with any team, there were a lot of excellent performances, surprise performances, and of course disappointing performances. Here at Motor City Bengals, we are going to be evaluating each player who suited up for the Detroit Tigers this season. We will analyze how they performed, what their future holds in the Motor City, and we will provide them a grade.

Note: the grade will be relative to what was expected of them. So a player who performed well above expectations may earn a B or an A, even if their actual season numbers are not that elite. If you disagree, feel free to drop us a comment. We would love to have discussions about these!

A handful of Tigers infielders have already been evaluated, including Jose Iglesias (here) Dawel Lugo (here) Niko Goodrum (here), Jeimer Candelario (here), and Ronny Rodriguez (here). Now we turn back to mound as we look at Johnny Barbato.

Johnny Barbato

During the off-season, the Tigers claimed Johnny Barbato off of waivers from the Pirates. The Tigers brought him up to the bigs in April. Shortly thereafter Barbato was sent back to Toledo. In May he came back to Comerica Park and by June he was sent to Disabled List with tendinitis.

All tod Barbato only threw 6.2 innings for the Olde English D this season. His control should cause great concern for Tigers fans as he posted a 2:5 K: BB rate. He finished the season with Toledo when the Tigers outrighted him to make room for Matt Hall in the clubhouse.

Grade: C

Barbato posted a short stint with the Tigers and it doesn’t bode for for the fans. Hopefully Barbato looks to spend the off-season improving his control and getting the ship right.

Check back here daily for more player grades! And if you’d like to discuss any grades, please leave us a comment on our Facebook or Twitter page.