According to the Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro, the Arizona Diamondbacks have reportedly designated veteran catcher Tucker Barnhart for assignment. The move has not yet been made official by the team.

This will free up a roster spot for primary catcher Gabriel Moreno to make his return from the 10-day IL on time, as was expected.

Barnhart, 33, had signed a minor league deal with the club to compete and eventually win the backup catcher role, but, in his limited playing time, had failed to create much of an impact both offensively and defensively.

Such is to be expected of an aging backup catcher, but his .173/.287/.210 slash stands out, despite putting together a couple of clutch RBI hits in recent weeks. Barnhart served as a calming veteran presence for a number of pitchers on the staff, but, at a certain point, a complete lack of production at the plate and defensive prowess gives reason to sacrifice his off-field value.

It comes as a bit of a surprise that Arizona opted to part with the veteran, rather than optioning Jose Herrera back to Triple-A Reno, although Herrera’s low numbers are currently the result of a small sample size. The 27-year-old slashed .260/.351/.362 in Triple-A, and has been with the D-backs’ organization since 2013, signing initially at 16 years old.

This move also implies that Arizona is comfortable moving forward with young prospect Adrian Del Castillo serving as their catcher depth, in the event of another injury to Moreno or Herrera.

Del Castillo has been an offensive force in Reno, slashing a monstrous .324/.399/.603 with 30 doubles, 15 home runs and 49 RBI in 49 games. He’s not the defensive wizard that the D-backs have in Moreno, and provides little value in controlling baserunners, but it’s hard to ignore offensive numbers of that magnitude, even in a hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.

But it’s not just Del Castillo raking in Triple-A. Behind him on the depth chart is 26-year-old Ronaldo Hernandez.

Hernandez spent time with the Boston Red Sox in 2022 and 2023, and was signed to a minor league deal with the D-backs in January of 2024. He’s hitting at a relatively close second to Del Castillo. Although only playing 34 games, he’s slashing .333/.379/.556, with six doubles and six home runs.

In any event, the decision to DFA Barnhart does offer some clarity on Arizona’s long-term plans at the catcher position. Although a backup catcher is not generally the player with the strongest bat, the team is likely looking to get younger, and, of course, hope they don’t have to make do without their young stud Moreno for more than an occasional day off going forward.

Steve Kerr is the head coach of Team USA’s men’s basketball team for the 2024 Summer Olympics next month in Paris, and he won’t be the only UA alum vying for gold in the sport.

Ex-Wildcats Josh Green (Australia) and Dusan Ristic (Serbia) are competing for spots with their countries’ respective national teams, who have already qualified for the Olympics, while three other former UA standouts are set to compete with their home nations in qualifying tournaments this week.

Deandre Ayton is trying to lead Bahamas to its first Olympics, while Nico Mannion (Italy) and Azuolas Tubelis (Lithuania) are looking to get their countries their 14^th and eighth Olympic bid, respectively.

Ayton, the former No. 1 NBA Draft pick who was Pac-12 Player and Freshman of the year in 2018 with the Wildcats, is coming off his sixth NBA season and first with the Portland Trail Blazers. Bahamas is playing in the qualifying tourney in Valencia, Spain, facing Poland on Wednesday and Finland on Thursday in group play.

Mannion, a 2nd-round pick of Golden State in 2020, appeared in 30 games with the Warriors as a rookie after his one season at the UA. The 23-year-old then went overseas, playing for Virtus Bologna in the Italian League for two seasons before spending 2023-24 with teams in Spain and Italy.

Italy was fifth in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and has won silver twice, in Athens (2004) and Moscow (1980). It is playing in the qualifying tourney in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where it will face Bahrain on Tuesday and Puerto Rico on Thursday.

Tubelis, who played for the Wildcats from 2020-23, just completed his first professional season by being named MVP of the Lithuanian Basketball League with Neptunas Klaipeda. Lithuania is looking to get back to the Olympics for the first time since 2016 in Brazil, where it placed seventh.

Lithuania, which is in the Puerto Rico qualifying tourney and faces Mexico on Tuesday and Ivory Coast on Wednesday, won three consecutive bronze medals in 1992 (Barcelona), 1996 (Atlanta) and 2000 (Sydney).

The winner of each of four qualifying tournaments will join the eight teams already assured a spot in Paris for the Olympic competition.

Green is one of 22 players on Australia’s Olympic training roster, which will be cut down in the next few weeks. He was part of the squad in Tokyo that won bronze, which qualified Green for the UA’s Ring of Honor.

A 1st-round pick of the Dallas Mavericks in 2021, Green started 33 games this past season with Dallas and played in all 22 games during the Mavs’ run to the NBA Finals.

Ristic, who is one of 16 players fighting for a spot on the Serbian National team, has played the past six seasons in Europe since winning a school-record 118 games with Arizona from 2014-18. This past season he split time between a pair of Spanish pro clubs, and recently got married.

Serbia, in the Olympics for only the second time, took silver in 2016.