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Tony Barnette, the righthanded relief pitcher who went to made his major league debut for the Texas Rangers in 2016 after spending six years in Japan, announced his retirement today.
The 36 year old was a 10th round draft pick of the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2006 out of Arizona State University. After spending the 2009 season in AAA, Barnette joined the Yakult Swallows of the Japanese League and pitched for them from 2010-15.
Barnette signed with the Rangers prior to the 2016 and had a stellar year out of the pen for the A.L. West champs, putting up a 2.09 ERA in 60.1 innings. He struggled in 2017 and then dealt with injuries in 2018. Barnette signed with the Chicago Cubs in 2019, but only appeared in two games in the majors, and after being sent down at the end of June, didn’t report and went on the restricted list, where he spent the rest of the year.