Tony was born in Anchorage, Alaska on November 9th, 1983. He played high school baseball at Thomas Jefferson High School under coach Chad Fahnlander before heading to Central Arizona College for two years of Junior College baseball.

He then moved on to the Pacific 10 Conference where he played two more years of college ball for Reggie Jackson’s alma mater, Arizona State University.  He was 10-5 during his time with the Sun Devils, and the Arizona Diamondbacks drafted him in the 10th round of the 2006 Amateur Draft.

Professional Baseball

Tony played rookie ball for the Missoula Osprey (Missoula, Montana) and was 6-4 in 15 starts during the 2006 season. He was promoted to single A in 2007 and started 25 of his 26 appearances for the South Bend Silver Hawks (South Bend, Indiana).

2008 saw Tony pitching for the double A Mobile Bay Bears (Mobile, Alabama) where he pitched more than 150 innings for the second year in a row and compiled a 11-7 record with a 3.87 ERA in 27 starts. Hank Aaron Stadium in Mobile is known for being a hitter’s park (13 of the 17 homers Tony surrendered were at Hank Aaron), so his ERA is that much more impressive.

His work that year, which featured 7.79 strikeouts per nine innings and a K:BB ratio of 3.17, earned him a non-roster invite to the Arizona Diamondbacks spring camp in early 2009.

Barnette played the 2009 season for the AAA Reno Aces (Reno, Nevada) where he started 29 games and threw 164.2 innings. He finished the year with a 14-8 record and ranked sixth for pitchers in the Pacific Coast League.

Following the 2009 season, Tokyo bought Barnette’s contract from Arizona as a possible number three or four starter behind Tateyama and Ishikawa.

Welcome to Tokyo!

Barnette signed a one-year deal with the Swallows on January 7th, 2010.

Barnette was released after the 2010 season and everyone, Tony included, thought that the chances of him pitching in Japan in 2011 were slim to none.

But due to a variety of reasons, Tony was re-signed by the Swallows on January 12th, 2011 for a second shot at getting the whole Japan thing sorted out. The contract included a club option for 2012.

Stats (NPB)

	G	W	L	Sv	BF	IP	H	HR	BB	HBP	K	WP	Bk	R	ER	ERA	RIP
NPB Totals	64	5	6	2	575	126.2	142	11	54	8	124	2	0	69	67	4.76	1.61
2010	16	4	5	0	376	79.2	99	9	41	4	70	2	0	55	53	5.99	1.81
2011	48	1	1	2	199	47	43	2	13	4	54	0	0	14	14	2.68	1.28

D'Antona in his Minor League Days

Since the Tsubamegun announced the pursuit and signing of infielder Jamie D’Antona almost three weeks ago, interest in the 26-year-old slugger has apparently helped to keep people in the US interested in the Swallows and brought a fair number of new folks by.   (If you’re one of them, stick with us to follow D’Antona’s progress in Tokyo.)

While we’re well-equipped to let people following the new guy know about the club, we’re joining the rest of the fans on this side of the Pacific in getting to know him.  To that end, here’s a bit of background on Jamie D’Antona.

Born: May 12, 1982; Trumbull, CT
Ht.: 6’2″ (188 cm)  Wt.: 215 lbs. (97.7 kg)
Bats/Throws: Right/ Right
Pos.: IF (Mostly 3B in minors, 1B for D-backs)
College: Wake Forest (3 seasons)
Minors: 6 seasons  MLB: 18 games in 2008
Strengths: His bat and his arm  Weaknesses: His glove & and apparent free-swinging approach at the plate

Stats

Why the Diamondbacks Released him: Apparently, they have enough utility infielders who can put up numbers equal to or better than what could be reasonably expected of him based on his minor league stats.  Despite being lauded for his arm in college, his glove has been a concern in scouting reports and precludes his playing 3B in the Majors.  He also draws surprisingly few walks.

What he could do for Tokyo: First and foremost, the Swallows need power.  Like many suketto before him, that’s presumably the main reason he was signed.   While starting at 1B would be the likely option, don’t put it past Takada to try him at 3B given his minor league time at the position and Takada’s inability to settle on a regular there.  Keizo Kawashima fields well and is fleet of foot, which fits in with the small ball approach favored by Takada and means D’Antona might be competing more directly with Hatakeyama for 1B.  Assuming that Hatake is in no hurry to return to the farm now that he’s finally gotten a taste of the big leagues and has been working on developing some power in the off-season, such a competition could be very good for the team even if it leaves Hatake, who has certainly earned a shot, worried.  Furthermore, if D’Antona hits often and hard, he could be a powerful protector for Aoki by following him in the batting order (or vice versa.)  It all comes down to how quickly D’Antona can adjust to NPB.  Demeanor will be a big issue.  If he’s easy-going enough to go with the flow and accept Takada’s frequent imbecilic decisions without butting heads, he’s halfway there.

Here’s what was said about in him in Arizona before he was called up.

Akinori Iwamura

Born: 2/9th/1979 in Uwajima, Ehime
Ht.: 175.5cm Wt.: 80kg
Bats: Left Throws: Right

Career Stats

* Asterisks indicate information we just don’t have on hand at the moment or numbers that we cannot firmly vouch for due to conflicting reports from different sources or because the numbers are drawn from sources about which we have reservations due to errors that exist elsewhere in the source.

And because a lot of searches have come through for him, too, we present you with the stats for:

Christopher Pellegrini

Born: 1978 in Vermont, United States
Ht.: 182cm Wt.: 75kg
Writes: Left Orders: Right
Position: Seated sideways/Milling around the top deck

Career Stats

GA= Games Attended
Beer= # of standard beers consumed
CB= # of Chicken Baskets consumed
Pizza= # of Pizzas ordered for delivery to the stadium
TR= # of Tearful Retirements witnessed
T-S= # of T-shirts purchased
Cap= # of Caps purchased
B-B= # of Fancy Belt Buckles purchased
Tat= # of other Tat items purchased
BAC= Blood Alcohol Content, of course