Barney making strides for the Cubs

There's a lot to like about Darwin Barney.

The 26-year-old Cubs second baseman plays the game the right way. He's usually at the right spot at the right time. He makes good decisions on the field.

Yet there are concerns about Barney's game, and to his credit, he addressed them in the off-season. The 5-foot-10, 186-pounder wore down in the second half of last season. Before the all-star break, he was hearing Rookie of the Year talk with a .306 batting average and a .334 on-base percentage.

But in the second half, Barney fell off to a .238 batting average and .286 OBP. He finished with a complete hitting line of .276/.313/.353 with 23 doubles, 6 triples, 2 home runs and 43 RBI.

“I was excited about it, but I want to be better,” Barney said recently at the Cubs' spring-training camp in Mesa, Ariz. “This team could be better. At the end of the day, you judge yourself and then you judge your team and how things went, and I think none of us were really happy about the way last year (finished).”

With that in mind, here are some issues facing the Cubs at second base.

How does Barney look?

Manager Dale Sveum told reporters in Mesa last week that he was impressed by Barney.

“He's a lot stronger and a lot quicker than I thought,” Sveum said. “His first step is really good.”

That's by design, at least the strength part.

“I spent the off-season working on my diet,” Barney said. “I lost a little weight last year. I think it affected me the last (part of the season). I put that weight back on. I'm going to try to figure out a way to keep it on.”

What must Barney work on?

Getting on base more would be a start. Barney took just 22 walks last year, and his walks percentage of 3.9 tied him for fifth worst in that category with Seattle's Miguel Olivo.

Barney acquitted himself well in the field, and you have to remember it was his first full year at second base. He came up as a shortstop out of Oregon State University, where he was a College World Series champion.

Barney and shortstop Starlin Castro did have some communication difficulties in the field last year, something Barney acknowledged.

“We enjoy playing together,” he said. “It's one of those things where we can only get better. We're going to improve on that.”

What's coming?

The Cubs found themselves thin in the middle infield this winter. They traded DJ LeMahieu to the Colorado Rockies in the deal that brought third baseman Ian Stewart. They also lost a pair of prospects, Ryan Flaherty and Marwin Gonzalez, in the Rule 5 draft.

That's partly why the Cubs added several middle-infield types before spring training. Holdover Jeff Baker, who can back up at third base, first base and the outfield, also can play second base. The Cubs managed to keep Blake DeWitt as a nonroster man after outrighting him off the 40-man roster recently.

Partly to make up for the losses of Flaherty, Gonzalez and LeMahieu, the Cubs also have several others in camp with some second-base experience: Adrian Cardenas, Alfredo Amezega, Edgar Gonzalez, Jonathan Mota, Bobby Scales and Matt Tolbert.

bmiles@dailyherald.com

Tops in the NL

Bruce Miles ranks the second basemen:

1. Brandon Phillips, Reds

2. Rickie Weeks, Brewers

3. Dan Uggla, Braves

9. Darwin Barney, CUBS