The Giants have promoted top catching prospect Joey Bart to the Majors, per a club announcement. The No. 2 overall pick in the 2018 MLB draft, Bart will make his debut one day after 2018 No. 1 overall pick Casey Mize debuted with the Tigers.
Bart, 23, spent most of the 2019 season in Class-A Advanced, hitting .265/.315/.479 (116 wRC+) before a 22-game stint in Double-A where he finished on a tear: .316/.368/.544 (163 wRC+). Bart went on to the Arizona Fall League and hit .333/.524/.767 with four homers in 42 plate appearances before a broken thumb cut his AFL stint short. His 6.2 percent walk rate doesn’t immediately jump out, but Bart’s 21 percent strikeout rate isn’t particularly alarming either.
Defensively, there’s little doubt about Bart’s abilities behind the dish. Scouting reports at MLB.com and FanGraphs place a 60 and potential 70 grade on his glovework, and Bart was voted ACC Defensive Player of the Year in his final season with Georgia Tech. Scouting reports laud his framing and pitch-blocking abilities, and Bart carried a career 31 percent caught-stealing rate in the minors before thwarting nine of the 13 stolen-base attempts against him in last year’s Arizona Fall League.
All in all, Bart is career .284/.343/.532 hitter in the minors, and he has the defensive tools to make him one of baseball’s premier all-around backstops. He’s yet to see a pitch in Triple-A and has only 87 Double-A plate appearances under his belt, so it’s far from a given that he’ll immediately thrive against big league pitching. However, with the Giants hitting just .250/.314/.415 as a team (17th in the Majors in wRC+) — with much of that coming from Mike Yastrzemski — Bart doesn’t need to be an offensive juggernaut to provide a boost.
San Francisco catchers, in particular, have floundered at the dish. The trio of Tyler Heineman, Chadwick Tromp and Rob Brantly (who saw only three plate appearances) have combined for a .180/.227/.270 slash in the absence of stalwart Buster Posey. The veteran Posey opted out of the 2020 season, citing health concerns, after he and his wife adopted twin daughters who were born prematurely.
Bart ranked as baseball’s No. 7 overall prospect heading into the 2020 season, per ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel. He’s currently No. 8 on FanGraphs’ top 100, No. 15 at MLB.com and No. 33 at Baseball America. The Athletic’s Keith Law pegged him 44th prior to the season. Baltimore’s Adley Rutschman, the No. 1 overall pick in 2019, is the only catching prospect that is generally ranked on the same level as Bart, who is the heir-apparent to the aforementioned Posey and expected to be a fixture on the Giants’ roster for years to come.
By waiting until this point in the year to promote Bart, the Giants have ensured that he can’t become a free agent until after the 2026 season (at least), and they’ve likely avoided Super Two status as well. There are only 39 days remaining in the 2020 season, and each of those days counts for about 2.77 days of Major League service in this year’s prorated system. That leaves Bart with roughly 108 days of MLB service time to possibly accrue in 2020, which should comfortably leave him shy of Super Two designation when he approaches his arbitration years.
Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic reported just before the Giants’ announcement that Bart was on his way to the big leagues.
trade him for jo Adell? please
Why do you want to get rid of Jo Adell? He is only 21.
Hell no I would WAY rather have Joey Bart, Adell problem has a bigger ceiling but right now I would rather have Bart
Quality catchers are a rare commodity. In most cases, I’ll gladly take the C over the OF. Zaidi would seem to agree given his time with the Dodgers. Smith. Ruiz. Cartaya. Since the Giants want to compete for championships, they need to match the Dodgers behind the plate. Heck, having an MVP-caliber catcher is a major reason why the Giants won those three titles. Getting rid of Bart would set their rebuild back.
Yes because teams constantly trade prospect for prospects right after making their debuts, Makes total sense.
Am I the only one who thinks Jo Adell is overrated? I know he is still young but his lack of power really concerns me. He may grow into some but he doesn’t strike me as a 30 HR/yr guy, which you would expect out of a Top 5 ranked corner OF prospect. Hopefully for Angels’ fans sake he proves me wrong, but right now there’s no way I’d trade Joey Bart for Jo Adell.
Doesn’t need power, just be a table setter for Trout. Him and Fletcher at the top of the order will score a lot of runs
I’ve never seen a scouting report with anything less than a 60 future power grade. Plus his BP is top notch. Crazy raw pop. So this whole, he has no power take seems like you are looking at stat books or just basing it on 40 PAs.
This is correct. Adell is the real deal. He just barely got here. Hitting big league pitching is So much harder than hitting AA or Triple A pitching.
Same goes for Bart. Bart is going to struggle. it’s unavoidable
I haven’t got info on Adell, haven’t seen him play, etc. but just from reading the comments it reminds me of conversations about Eric Hosmer when he was a Royal. Stroke was nice, had the raw tools to hit for 25+ but his batted ball profile in game kept him from truly hitting for any power.
This doesn’t deserve to be the first comment. Giants just promoted a potential franchise player and you’re like “trade him lol let’s make it about the Angels.” We have had your number this week, by the way. We are a better team than you.
Angels won the series between the two that really mattered.
But, agreed this thread should be on the debut of another exciting young player not anything else.
And the Giants have won 3 more series that “really mattered” since.
Blows my mind that fans react the way they do. Adelle has had 35 AB’s and SOME fans are ready to trade him and questioning whether he actually has power. But, you see this everywhere even with proven talent. Acuna struggled for his first 20 AB’s or so and SOME Braves fans were declaring the apocalypse and I’m actually NOT talking about acunaISTILLOVERRATED.
Angels fans should remember Mike Trout’s slow start when he came up. That would be 8 for his first 51 at-bats with a .672 OPS in 135 PAs by season’s end. George Brett went 5-40; Mays and Mantle initially struggled as rookies with Mantle being sent back down. Mike Schmidt hit .196 for the entire season with a slugging percentage of .373. There are many other examples, as diehard baseball fans know, With no September call-ups in 2020, this a great opportunity for some of these teams to see what they have. As a fan of the game, I enjoy watching these players get acclimated, even through the struggles. There’s something special about that moment when the player finally believes he belongs. Most people have that same experience in their jobs. Tentative at first, then you grow to feel part of it and have a (hopefully) long career doing what you love.
Most baseball fans have little to no understanding of talent evaluation, amateur baseball scouting or player development.
You don’t know what you w a position player at the big league level until you see at 500 ABs. That is a projection established by MLB scouting bureau. Jo Adell is a ‘blue chip’ prospect. He’ll be fine.
Bart is also a ‘blue chip’ prospect. The term ‘blue chip’ is used to describe players unequivocally project to be regular MLB players. While there is no absolute guarantee any prospect will in fact develop into a regular productive MLB player, a ‘blue chip’ guy is the highest tag one can have
I’m glad Zaidi is comfortable promoting Bart but the big concern is gonna be can he adjust to big league braking pitches. The swing is big and long. He strikes out a lot. I wish him well
Bart has shown he adjusts quite well. He doesn’t strike out a lot. He is prone to injury.
@Howie415 How is being hit on the hand twice by a pitcher with control issues where it leads to an injury considered injury prone. If anything those pitchers are mediocre because they have no control. smh talk about the most idiotic comment I’ve read this whole week.
His NCAA Strikeout numbers are Bad. And his limited MILB strike out numbers aren’t much better.
Yes, hes going to strike out a bunch
I didn’t know the specifics of his injuries. But, the injuries through off his hitting. When he faced higher level pitching, he wasn’t strikeout prone. I wasn’t dogging Bart at all.
Who cares what he did in college. He killed it in the AZFL.
HalosHeaven, you guys won the Series but Giants fans know that Baker taking Ortiz out and the umps not calling interference on your fan in RF are what cost the Giants that 02 series. But good for the Angel’s they took advantage of both things and won.
Giants fans tend to Hero worship young players way too much. long before they’ve established themselves.
Duffy, D-Rod, Arroyo …..We’re the only team that does this. it’s embarrassing and reinforce s the whole ‘ Giants fans are baseball stupid ‘
Please don’t do this to Bart .
Seriously dude. You still think Bimbo Coles was a great PG for the Warriors. Your talent evaluation is horrible.
@nbgiants25 We don’t personally attack people here that don’t share the same views. This is against the forum rules.
Your post has been flagged!
Dubs, you amaze me with your constant “I’m a Giants fan” yet comment after comment you knock real Giants fans. If you think Giants fans are the only ones that get excited about prospects you’re even more lost than I thought. Every single team’s fans get excited about prospects and most want to give those kids more than a week before we declare them unable to succeed in the majors.
BTW if you look at Duffy’s stats when he was healthy his numbers were definitely major league worthy.
I need to stop acknowledging your posts, they have no value and waste my time.
Yes!!! Better late than never. Congratulations Joey Bart!
Late? Dude’s a catcher that got drafted 2 years ago….he’s waaaay early if anything
He only had 22 games in AA last year. Wouldn’t be surprised if he struggled this year
22 games in AA
10 games in Arizona Fall League
9 games in Spring Training.
In those 125 at bats he hit .336 with 10 HRs, 6 2Bs and 1 3B and 19 BBs.
The sample size you posted here is WAY too small. Lol. It tells you Nothing about how he will hit at the MLB level
Lethimsmoke, no minor league stats tell how a player will play in the majors, that is why we get excited about prospects who don’t always succeed after putting up solid minor league numbers.
That being said, I hope he is successful, I agree more time in the minors would have only helped, but only time will tell.
late? what the heck are you talking about ? Joey Bart was a 2018 pick. if anything, they might be bringing him up too early
also, he’s going to have to figure it out in a losing culture . it would be better if Posey was there to mentor him. But instead he has a group of overpaid, lazy, complacent veterans that haven’t played winning baseball in almost 5 years. it’s a losing culture
if you look around the league , Atlanta, LA, DC , the rookies there have a history of strong performance and a big component in that development is that fact that the Games matter! These teams have a winning culture in place . That is so important
as a fan it’s hard to stomach this . but it’s the Truth. The Giants do not have a winning culture anymore. This will be the 4th consecutive season we’ll finish below .500 it’s ugly
agreed about Posey. Posey could be a huge influence on him but Kapler? he’s a kook. And his rookie staff ?
Atlanta has a winning culture? Someone should tell them that.
About damn time. Finally a reason to watch the season.
I don’t know I have enjoyed watching the starters and yaz – if you turn off after 6 or 7 innings you had a good time watching the game
LOL agreed, I get excited every time yaz and Donnie Barrels come up to the plate, slater has looked really good too
Never been a fan of taking catchers real high in the draft. Seems like at the end of the day- the best ones play 4/5 days a week, hit 240 w 15/20 homers. Maybe Bart will be different. Posey was last one that was different and that lasted just long enough for him to get paid….
.240 with 15-20 HRs is more than enough offense if you get elite defense and pitch framing.
pitch framing likely on its way out, sadly.
PiTcH fRaMiNg
Does pitch framing confuse you?
Cam he may have been referring to electronic strike zones.
You mean that lasted just long enough to win three rings?
There is no position on the diamond other than pitcher that impacts the game more than catcher. The first thing you should be concerned about is his glove and how he calls game. I WOULD say pitch framing as well but that might be going out soon.
There we go! I love seeing all these prospects get brought up this season!
Me, too. A silver lining in this weird season. For a longtime fan like myself, the best way to market the game is by continuing to add exciting young talent to the mix.
Bart train rides tonight!
Why people hire Dusty Baker is beyond me. Dude steps into a room and guys start dropping like flies.
Tell that to Joey Bart lol.
I hope they don’t, but I can see the Giants bringing dusty back for a retirement tour when he decides to hang it up.
I’d rather have dusty than kapler!
Why? So we can remember the two times he blew our chances at championships?
“Giants hitting just .250 …” ??? Currently ranks 11 out of 30 in MLB – production coming from more than just Yaz – including Solano, Flores, Slater. Do a bit more research next time please.
They’re also 20th in the Majors in OBP, 18th in slugging and 17th wRC+.
Yaz has been far and away their best hitter. If I thought there was a shred of anything sustainable about Solano’s output, I’d have listed him, although the fact that he’s contributed to he extent that he has only further speaks to the fact that the Giants could use some help.
Solano hit .330 last year and if you actually watch games like I do you’d see that his success this year and last is no fluke … watch the game.
Yes, but what are his home/road stats on a Thursday night with a full moon vs rhp and lhp?????
WATCH TEH GAMEZ!!!1
Solano has hit .346/.377/.477 now as a Giant in 300 at bats. Maybe he’s just good, dude.
He is also 32. Not a real piece to build around.
Yes, while posting the second highest BABIP of players with at least 220 plate appearances in 2019 and posting the third highest BABIP in 2020 so far.
.400 BABIP isn’t sustainable. Ask Yoan Moncada.
a’s fans (both of them) should be more concerned with losing their impending FA’s and their pie in the sky balpark plan now that their charity plan from MLB is gone.
A .400 BAPIP isn’t sustainable though. Even Moncada and Tatis have fallen back into the .350 ranges.
@statman. Good job. Can’t deal with reality so you deflect the conversation to something completely unrelated.
He’s not wrong
We going to talk about the fact Solano has the highest batting average dating back to last years All-Star game? Slaters .340 average? Crawford over .300 this past week? Flores with an OPS over 900? We’d be .500 if it wasn’t for Gotts meltdown. We’re not out of it yet.
C’mon man. Yaz and Solano have been good but Slater doesn’t even play everyday and Crawford is clearly washed up. Giants have no shot at the playoffs, especially in that division
Can you be washed up if you were never washed down? (Washed in? I’m trying to find the opposite of washed up…either way he’s never been “good” by mlb standards) He was a can’t miss prospect who missed, hard.
There’s no such thing as a 4th round can’t miss prospect.
And he’s had some good seasons — 4.3 fWAR in 2015, 5.2 in 2016. 4 other seasons where he average at least 2 wins per season. 21.2 for his career. He was a good player at times. He’s not now, but he was.
Slater started the game with a other dpuble, and Flores home run. All Slater has done in his minor league career is rake and get on base. Go Stanford pride!
There are plenty of guys who fall in the draft due to signability.
Maybe there aren’t many 4th rounders who are can’t miss the day they are drafted, but many play their way up the rankings.
His expected BA is in the 97th percentile tho. Somehow he’s been doing this for 2 straight years now.
I like Yaz, but he’s the kind of guy a rebuilding team should cash-in on in a trade. Solano, too.
Why can’t Yaz and Solano be a bridge to a new era?
They’re cheap and producing. Grabbing some free agents and calling up prospects while keeping them is a better answer. The Giants aren’t the Rays or A’s; the Giants have money and it’s time they shed the bad contracts and spend their money more wisely.
Solano turns 33 in September. Yastrzemski will be 30 on Sunday. Good players with excellent trade value for the rebuilding Giants. Atlanta would probably love having a guy like Yaz and have the prospects to make such a trade feasible. Yankees, too. How great would it be if the Yankees had a Yastrzemski and the Red Sox had an infielder named Jeter?
@davemlaw
Their age is the biggest problem. Yastrzemski turns 30 in a few days and Solano will be 33 in December. Because of that, they’re considered to be more helpful for a win-now team than a win-later team like the Giants.
so sick of fans hoping their team trades away any decent player for a prospect return. The Giants have arbitration control of Mike Yastrzemski for 5 more seasons after this one. Most of their top prospects are expected to be contributors next season or the following. The Giants will have over 100m in cap space starting next season. I can see a Solano or Cueto or Watson trade, but why exactly would they trade their best player right now?
Sadler, gotta think a win-now team would love Yaz at that salary. He is an extremely valuable trade chip.
AndyWarpath,
Freak injury and hindsight is 20/20, but the rebuilding Mariners probably regret not trading Mitch Haniger when he was at maximum value.
I prefer for teams to try and compete. The fact that the Diamondbacks traded their best starting pitcher when the team was 2 games out of the second wild card is absolutely insane to me. Yes they have prospects now and yes it might work out for them. But I would have been devastated as a fan. I’d rather my team go for it rather than continuing to kick the can down the road and promise to be good “someday.”
@Cey Hey
I know — I was responding to somebody suggesting the Giants keep him.
agreed. Zaidi needs to sell everything that isn’t nailed down at the deadline if a market develops
Yaz, Solano , Gausman . SELL, SELL SELL
Dude…get over it. There is no market. You really believe there is going to be a return.
Gigantes have a pretty decent top half of their lineup: Slater, Solano, Yaz, Flores.
Now if only Longoria could hit a little
anything from Bart is a gift
forget the Brandons three bills Sandoval, and underpants…
let’s go!!!!!!!
I hope this kid tears the cover off the ball and stays up in the majors for the rest of his career. He was such a great college player and he made decent noise in the minors as well. He’s the type of guy who seems to do better when more pressure is put on him, so let’s see if he can stay true to form and begin his Giants MLB career with a bang.
You’re a saint!
Funny how you are constantly telling us about how prospects are overrated but Bart is already some clutch stud after not playing one MLB game.
Seems like an early call up to me. Doubt he would be up if this wasnt a COVID-19 season but Atleast it’ll give these Giants fans something to actually be excited about lol
Almost certainly. We’ve never seen a time like this where top prospects are moved up to the majors in such numbers.
SalaryCapMyth, no September call-ups. Though we haven’t approached this weird season’s midway point, it is actually the time of year when teams would be allowing top prospects to get their feet wet. Teams need to do this now for the sake of player development. As a fan, I am totally into it. I actually made plans to watch the Tigers last night.
Very excited to see Bart play! The future is now.
I love Pence and Panda but it’s time to start giving their AB’s to the newcomers: Slater, Davis et al. The season is probably lost but the future is bright.
Humm Baby! Go Giants!
Bart gets a good 6 weeks or so to learn and grow. Whoever walked into Zaidi’s office to wake him up from his nap to make this decision deserves a bonus at year’s end.
Are they planning to trade Buster or move him to a different position
He’s a backup at this point. Probably will also play a few games at first.
Bart will probably play 1B when Buster returns, or the two will switch off between catcher and 1B.
Scott knows the score. That’s spot on what’s going to happen.
Have Buster play 1B when a lefty is on the mound. Have Buster catcher twice a week and DH the rest of the way. Both Bart and Buster should be able to play 140+ games if the DH becomes official in the NL.
Buster who?
oh, the dude that bailed on his teammates…
His walk up song better be “Do The Bartman”!
This thread has shown me that Giant fans are almost as delusional as Yankees fans.
Why because we are excited about our Top prospect being called up on a season where there is not much to be excited about???? You’re right, a heinous crime has been committed.
No because they think Solano is gunna hit .350 for the next ten years and they have a shot at the World Series this year.
@ Nebraska I think you reading comprehension is really bad. Giant fans are stating he has trade value due to hitting well and not once have I read of a fan claiming the Giants are going to the WS. Talk about reaching smh.
you obviously haven’t watched the giants this year. Catcher by far is the weakest spot on the team
For sure. Turning a weakness into a possible strength is a great way to speed-up a rebuild. Especially at that crucial position. I’m a Dodger fan, but also a fan of the game in general. All these top prospects coming up these past couple weeks makes me more inclined to check out other teams’ games. With no September call-ups this year, this is an excellent opportunity for some of these teams to see what they have moving forward. I cant wait to see Bart play.
If you think catching is the weakest spot on our roster, then the bullpen would like to have a word with you.
They are rebuilding. In that scenario, the bullpen is the least of their worries. It’s not about winning now; it’s about building a foundation so they can win consistently in the future. A lights-out closer is not needed on a bad team. If you are rebuilding and have one, then you trade that guy away while he has the maximum value. Like the Pirates should have done with Vasquez.
@Cey Hey my comment was meant for lettimmysmoke55, The problem is that I wasn’t just taking about a closer, but the bull pen in general. Giants have a pitcher who will become their closer in 2021 (Moranta) I also figure Watson will not be with the team come September.
Choco, It’s still more important to develop the catcher, as you would obviously know. For the Giants’ sake, I hope Bart establishes himself as a take-charge guy behind the dish and remains there for years to come. That would give them something that most teams don’t have.
I completely agree about catching being more important. That’s the brain of the team. I’m rotting for him all the way
I’m rooting for him as well, even though I’m a Dodger fan. A strong top-to-bottom division would not be a bad thing in my book. Do you think they look to move Solano, Yastrzemski, and Cueto? Good players who could bring nice prospects in return. Add a young CF to go with Bart, then make a major play for one of the FA shortstops after next season. They could be solid up the middle and then make a big splash as salaries drop off the books. If I was a GM looking to win now, I would love Yastrzemski.
I think they hold Yas, but trade Solano and Cueto in the coming weeks. Then in the offseason go after a starter and a middle infielder. With Ramos coming up next season (and Bishop developing) I can’t see them being a big player for an outfielder.
Solano probably doesn’t have much value — almost 33, not much power or speed and he’s been very poor defensively. His contact skills are useful to some team I’m sure, but not very valuable.
Yastrzmemski is their best player and he’s worth taking a gamble on, 30 years old though.
Cueto makes almost $22M next year with a $5M buyout for 2022. They’ll need to eat a lot of that to make a deal but they can afford it.
AndyWarpath, re Yaz: What be acceptable to you as a return for Yaz? How about Atlanta offering a package centering on Pache, a young pitcher, and another decent prospect or two?
They are definitely keeping Yaz, but the players I see them trading away are Cueto, Solano, Watson, Gausman, and possibly belt but that is very unlikely.
I doubt they go after an OF with Ramos, Bishop, Basave, and Davis coming up in the near future. Not to mention Canario, Matos, and Pomares in 2023
I definitely don’t think Solano is worth the moon, but maybe a couple Top 25 prospect types do the trick there. They’d definitely need to eat salary for Cueto, but I think he fetches a decent return if the Giants offer, say, 15m of salary relief.
I think that Farhan falls out of his chair when offered that for Yas. Yes, I think Pache and parts gets that deal done.
@Andy I can definitely see Solano bringing up a decent pitching prospect for the BP, as for Cueto, the next start will tell how good of a return he will net. He’s been pitching really well in the past games.
No one in their right mind would give up a top 50 prospect for Solano, let alone 2 top 25s? Solano might get you a low A guy with tools that hasn’t put it together yet at best.
And who said a top 50 for solano, I said a bullpen prospect there are plenty of those
Top 25 as in a systems top 25. Not all of baseball’s 25. Sorry, I thought that was self explanatory.
I know what you meant smh, there are plenty of good players that are not in a teams top 24.
Congrats Joey B! Looking forward to see what you bring to the club. What other names in the minors should we expect to see? This season is toast and it’s time to let the kids play. Is Ramos next or still a year or two away??
Ride the BART to ballpark to see Joey Bart and his MLB debut.
Wow 4 top prospects promoted this week awesome. You get promoted and . You get promoted and you get promoted
Bart’s in starting line-up!!! Let’s Go
Padres Fan here….Wow, you guys seem all over Bart. Maybe focus on digging yourself out of the last place cellar in the NL West, first, then get excited about these types of acquisitions after? (Just a thought).
Says the fan whose team has not made the playoffs since 2006, let alone won one. Pretty good rebuild you guys had there. How long was it? 14 years??
Friars won’t make the playoffs this year either!
Maybe the Padres should try to have their first season over .500 baseball in nine years before opening their yappers. Speaking of last place, where did the Padres last at the end of last season? I’m trying to remember…
A new Era has begun.
To add to what the rest of you have said above, unlike last year when Zaidi was constrained about moving Bum and Smith, he’s under no such limits this year.
Yes, Yaz and Solano are cheap and good bridge players to the next good Giants team, but they can also fetch decent prospects from a number of teams. So can their veteran starting pitchers and Watson. Zaidi said earlier this week that they would be bringing up their minor league arms after the trading deadline, which tells you where he’s headed.
I suspect that this Bart move signals a decision to cash in a short season and give some of their future players some ML time this year after the deadline, while improving that minor league system even more. That and those contracts coming off the books over the next 2 years sets them up somewhat well in ’22 and ’23.
Yesir, no more Goodbye Bochy tour, no one is untouchable from the current Giants roster, I am all for Zaidi getting the best possible returns on any player on the roster.
Well, it’s nice to see the critics who slammed the Cubs about Bryant don’t seem to be on here. It’s business and the Giants promotion of Bart just happens to coincide with their needs… and just happens to save them potentially, a ton of money.
Bart is 0-2, with a HBP on his foot in his first at-bat. oof…
Oh my god…he is a complete bust. He is the first baseball player in over 100 years to go 0-2. A complete bust. Ban him from earth. He should commit suicide because he is the first player to ever go 0-2.