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Joey Bart

Giants’ Joey Bart Suffers Fractured Thumb In Arizona Fall League

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8:40pm: The Giants further announced that Bart has been diagnosed with a non-displaced fracture that will not require surgery. He’s expected to be recovered within four to six weeks. That’ll put an end to his AFL run but should allow him a mostly normal offseason.

5:40pm: Top Giants catching prospect Joey Bart suffered a fractured right thumb during last night’s Arizona Fall League game, the Giants announced Wednesday. The injury came during Bart’s eighth game in the AFL, where he’d batted .400/.559/.920 with four homers and a double in 34 trips to the plate.

There’s no indication that the injury will impact Bart’s readiness for the 2020 season. He’s meeting with a specialist today, per the team’s announcement. But the broken thumb certainly figures to put an end to bring an early end to Bart’s 2019 Fall League stint and comes on the heels of a season that was shortened by a fracture in his other hand. Bart sustained a broken left hand back in April and missed nearly two months as a result of the injury. Both fractures were sustained when he was hit by a pitch.

The two hand fractures notwithstanding, the 2019 campaign has to be considered a success for Bart, whom the Giants selected with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2018 draft. The former Georgia Tech star reached Double-A as a 22-year-old, closing out the season with 22 games at that level and hitting .316/.368/.544. In a combined 338 plate appearances between Class-A Advanced and Double-A — both pitcher-friendly settings — Bart slashed .278/.328/.495 with 16 homers, 14 doubles and three triples.

Bart ranks prominently on most top prospect lists at this point, sitting 19th on MLB.com’s midseason update, 15th on Baseball America’s Oct. 1 update and 17th on Fangraphs’ latest rankings. A promotion late in the 2020 season doesn’t seem out of the question, though this season’s injuries have perhaps slowed his trajectory a bit. A 2021 arrival at the MLB level might be a safer bet. That would mark the final season of franchise icon Buster Posey’s nine-year, $167MM contract and present Bart with ample opportunity to learn from one of the best backstops in recent memory.

NL Notes: Mets, Posey, Alcantara

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While there have obviously been some bright spots for the Mets this year, Joel Sherman of the New York Post rejects the idea that it’s just another season. Having dealt away significant prospects and bypassed opportunities to recoup others, the Mets made a win-now gambit that hasn’t paid out. That makes this year a distinct waste, Sherman argues. There’ll surely be long-term impacts that haven’t yet fully been felt. Most immediately, Sherman posits that skipper Mickey Callaway is likely to be bounced from the dugout — an approach that would be supported heartily by MLBTR readers.

More from the National League:

  • There has long been debate as to whether and when Giants catcher Buster Posey would begin spending more time at first base. But that’s no longer really a relevant inquiry, Kerry Crowley of The Mercury News writes. Posey remains a steady presence behind the dish as his first decade in the majors draws to a close, but his bat has distinctly fallen off its former pace. The 32-year-old is slashing just .256/.320/.368, marking the first below-average offensive campaign of his career. What of top prospect Joey Bart, who is nearing MLB readiness? Crowley argues that he’s the better candidate to spend part of his time at first base once he reaches the bigs.
  • Marlins right-hander Sandy Alcantara has increasingly impressed over the course of the season, as MLB.com’s Bill Ladson explores. The 24-year-old’s latest outing drew his earned run average south of four per nine over a 191 1/3-inning sample. Alcantara has outpaced his peripherals, but it’s still quite a promising showing for a young hurler. Manager Don Mattingly says that Alcantara “has turned the corner” as he has increased his confidence and aggressiveness. Alcantara will not be eligible for arbitration until 2022.

Giants Notes: Park Dimensions, Bart, Roster Shuffling

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Giants leadership will consider some alterations to the dimensions of their spacious home park, Andrew Baggarly and Eno Sarris of The Athletic report in an exhaustive look at the matter (subscription required). Members of the ownership group posed the question of whether the right-field fences should be moved in and whether the bullpens should be moved to new president of baseball ops Farhan Zaidi in Spring Training; the first-year baseball ops leader agreed that it was at least worth exploring. Manager Bruce Bochy suggested to Baggarly that “Triples Alley” in right field would make an ideal spot for the bullpens to be relocated. “Personally, I feel if you hit a ball 400 feet, it should be a home run,” said the skipper. “So yeah, I think we should all be open minded to making a change.” Zaidi, meanwhile, stressed that the discussion is in its nascent stages. While he’s appreciative of the manner in which park-specific idiosyncrasies can impact roster construction, Zaidi also spoke of not “becoming so idiosyncratic that you become an outlier” that proves disadvantageous. Baggarly and Sarris explore just how much of an outlier the newly renamed stadium has become and also interview several players about the park’s dimensions.

More out of San Francisco…

  • Top prospect Joey Bart, the No. 2 overall pick in last year’s draft, will miss the next four to six weeks of action due to a fractured left hand, Bochy announced to reporters Tuesday (link via Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area). The injury occurred Monday when the highly touted young catcher was hit by a pitch. Broadcaster Joe Ritzo, who covers the Giants’ affiliate in San Jose where Bart was injured, tweets that farm director Kyle Haines suggested that the team could send Bart to the Arizona Fall League after the 2019 season as a means of making up for some of the plate appearances he’ll miss while he’s down with the injury. The 22-year-old Bart hit .298/.369/.613 in 203 plate appearances for the Giants’ Low-A affiliate in 2018 and was off to a .270/.341/.541 start through 10 games and 41 plate appearances in 2019.
  • Over the weekend, Kerry Crowley of the San Jose Mercury News took a look at Zaidi’s frequent shuffling on the fringes of the 40-man roster, noting that since being hired to his new post, the former Dodgers GM has made 11 trades, six waiver claims and designated 12 players for assignment. It’s old hat for fans who’ve followed the Dodgers tireless roster machinations over the years, but many Giants fans were taken aback by the deluge of roster moves — particularly with so many transactions involving unfamiliar names. “This was kind of the (roster) configuration we’ve been looking for for awhile so hopefully these guys can settle into their roles,” Zaidi told Crowley, referencing the recent additions of Kevin Pillar and Tyler Austin. Zaidi goes on to discuss that despite what some onlookers may think, the decision to cut ties with even fringe roster players is never made lightly and is never an easy one.

Giants Notes: Samardzija, Posey, Bart, Catching

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The latest from San Francisco…

  • Jeff Samardzija will get a second opinion on his bothersome throwing shoulder, The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly reports (Twitter link).  Samardzija has been out of action since mid-July with shoulder inflammation, and he most recently suffered a setback in his rehab process.  Shoulder issues also required Samardzija to serve another DL stint earlier in the year, and given the lack of time remaining in the season, the Giants could very well decide to simply shut the right-hander down.  The injuries have surely contributed to Samardzija’s poor numbers (6.25 ERA over 44 2/3 IP) in what has become a lost season for the veteran.
  • There aren’t many past instances of a catcher undergoing hip labrum surgery, as Fangraphs’ Jay Jaffe explores, so the Giants can’t really be sure of what to expect from Buster Posey going forward after the longtime star returns from his imminent procedure.  Undergoing this surgery could certainly help Posey regain some of his power, though since he’s entering his age-32 season, Posey might be due for something of a natural decline in any case.  The Giants can’t explore a full-time move to first base for Posey due to Brandon Belt’s presence, and because Posey’s defense behind the plate is such a big plus for the team, Jaffe explains.
  • The long-term answer for the Giants at catcher, of course, looks to be second overall pick Joey Bart.  In a subscription-only piece for The Athletic, Baggarly looks at the prospect’s first pro season, which has already been an impactful one.  Bart has already been promoted to low-A ball, and has a combined .306/.367/.589 slash line over 199 PA at the rookie league and low-A levels.  It wouldn’t be a shock to see San Francisco aggressively promote Bart in 2019, given that Posey himself took a quick route to the majors (drafted fifth overall in 2008, made his big league debut in 2009).  If Bart keeps up his progress, it will be interesting to see how the Giants manage the situation, given that Posey and Belt are both signed to big-money contracts through the 2021 campaign.

Giants Sign No. 2 Overall Pick Joey Bart

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JUNE 17: Bart’s signing is now official, per an announcement from the Giants. He signed for $7.025MM, the largest upfront bonus given to a position player in the history of the draft, Callis tweets.

JUNE 13: The Giants are closing in on a deal with No. 2 overall pick Joey Bart, reports John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle. The former Georgia Tech catcher needs only to pass a physical, per the report, before the deal is official. An announcement from the team could come as soon as Friday, according to Shea, who adds that Bart is expected to sign for a bit south of the $7.494MM value of the No. 2 overall slot.

Bart, 21, obliterated college opposition this season, hitting .359/.471/.632 with 16 homers and a dozen doubles in 220 at-bats. While he has a fair bit of swing-and-miss in his game at present (56 strikeouts), he also drew 41 walks in that time and was hit by another eight pitches, contributing to his robust OBP.

It seemed fairly certain for much of the spring that Bart would go in the top few picks, and in the weeks leading up to the draft, virtually every mock draft from major outlets pegged Bart within the top three (most frequently going to the Giants). Kiley McDaniel and Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs rated Bart as the third-best prospect in the class, while the Baseball America staff pegged him fifth, Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com ranked him sixth, and ESPN’s Keith Law slotted him in as the draft’s 10th-best talent.

Bart’s arm draws rating of 60 to 70 on the 20-80 scale, and he draws frequent praise for his hands, footwork and athleticism behind the dish. He’s expected to stay behind the plate and hit for plenty of power as a regular catcher down the line, though his strikeout tendencies might suppress his average. That said, an above-average defensive catcher who can get on base and hit for power is a rare commodity in Major League Baseball, and if Bart realizes that potential in a few years, he’ll more than justify his selection near the top of the draft.

Shea notes that San Francisco GM Bobby Evans scouted Bart in person on multiple occasions and effused praise for Bart both as a player and a leader. “Joey just has this drive to be the best,” said Evans. “He’s a leader on his team, somebody guys look to on both sides of the ball, offensively and defensively. You love to see a guy love his craft the way Joey loves being behind the plate.”

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