When Buster Posey decided to retire after the 2021 season, the San Francisco Giants had a huge void to fill at the catcher position.
The No. 5 pick in the 2008 MLB Amatuer Draft out of Florida State had been a fixture in the team’s lineup since 2009. Not only would his production be missed, but his leadership.
The Giants thought that they had their long-term replacement with Joey Bart. The Georgia Tech product was selected No. 2 overall in the 2018 MLB Draft and was being groomed to be Posey’s replacement.
He got his shots, but was never able to live up to the expectations placed on him. On April 2nd, 2024, they decided to throw in the towel and move forward with Patrick Bailey as their new starting catcher.
Bart was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for right-handed pitcher Austin Strickland, who remains in A-Ball.
It is a deal that has worked out incredibly well for the Pirates.
Sometimes, all it takes is a change of scenery for something to click with a player. That has been the case with Bart, who has started to show the form that San Francisco saw when they selected him six years ago in the draft.
With his breakout, he landed on Pittsburgh’s list of their top five position players in 2024.
“Was there a better scrapheap move in 2024 than the Pirates acquiring former top prospect Joey Bart from the San Francisco Giants after he was designated for assignment? The 27-year-old has a 123 OPS+ and 13 home runs in 270 plate appearances, and with club control through 2027, he could finally be a long-term answer behind the plate,” Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report wrote.
In 79 games with the Pirates, he has nearly outproduced every statistic he recorded with the Giants through 162 games.
San Francisco would have assuredly preferred that Bart’s breakout had occurred with them, but they have to be happy to see him performing at a high level elsewhere. It had to hurt even more when he played so well against them.
In three games against the Giants this season, their former catcher had a .308/.308/.615 slash line in 13 plate appearances.
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