Barfield attended Pine Bluff High School in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He starred for the baseball team, which won a state championship. One of his teammates on the Pine Bluff baseball team was future Rangers pitcher Mike Jeffcoat. Barfield played college baseball at Crowder College in Neosho, Missouri, and at Oklahoma City University. He was drafted by the Rangers in the 11th round (267th overall) of the 1986 amateur draft.\n', '

Barfield played his first professional season with the Class A-Advanced Daytona Beach Admirals and Salem Redbirds in 1986. By 1988, he had advanced to the Class AA Tulsa Drillers, where he was on the pitching staff with future major leaguers Kevin Brown, Kenny Rogers and Steve Wilson. Barfield was a Texas League All-Star and finished with a 9–9 record with a 2.88 earned run average (ERA).\n', '

He made his MLB debut in 1989. He appeared in four games for the Rangers that year, two of them starts, and he gave up eight earned runs in ​11 2⁄3 innings. The next year, he appeared in 33 games, all as a relief pitcher. In 1991, Barfield was the long reliever for the Rangers, but in June, with starting pitchers Bobby Witt and Scott Chiamparino on the disabled list, Barfield made his first start of the season. He pitched ​6 2⁄3 innings and earned the win. He started several more games that season, but he developed a rib fracture which caused pain and poor pitching during his last three starts. In August, the injury sidelined him for the rest of the season.\n', '

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