"Welcome to the "Rock Star" portion of the Reds winter caravan, minor league catcher Tucker Barnhart. Even though late last September you were named the best defensive catcher in all of minor league baseball – for which you won a Rawlings Gold Glove – nobody except your family and friends and fine-print aficionados knew it.

What shot you from unknown (at least to Reds fans) to rock star was the trade of former first-round draft pick Yasmani Grandal to the San Diego Padres in the Mat Latos deal, and then, two weeks ago, the invitation to big league camp for spring training, and now joining Brandon Phillips, Marty Brennaman, et al, on the Brennaman-proclaimed "Rock Star Tour" bus, which today completes its three-state, 1,000-mile tour with an appearance at The Shops at Lexington Center, from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Barnhart – at 5-foot-8 and 175 pounds – is not a big guy, but, oh, he can play this game.

And, by now, he has learned something about major-league wise-cracking, putdowns and zingers by listening to Brennaman and Reds Hall of Famer Lee May. They skewer one another in hotel lobbies, restaurants and bars – and every place else they are within earshot of one another."