There R Giants #5: Joey Bart

Photo by Lachlan Cunningham | Getty Images

We’re almost to the finish line of the There R Giants Top 50. Over the winter months, I’m writing a post on each of the fifty players in my rankings, leading us back to the much-needed spring. Our list of previously covered players is getting a little long, so from here on out I’m moving the links for the full list down the bottom of the post.

My spring training sojourn has come to an end. But fortunately, on my way out of town, I was able to stop by Scottsdale Stadium on Wednesday and get an up close an personal view of Joey Bart’s huge raw power, reminding me a bit of the very first time I ever saw him play in person…

Roger Munter @rog61

Here’s the video — not sure if it captures the dramatic bounce off the tree or not

That gives me the perfect segue to pivot back to the There R Giants Top 50, because my #5 prospect is, in fact, the man who appears ready to take over — or, at least, share — the starting catcher reins this season.

What a messed up ride Bart’s been on in his pro career! Few prospects in baseball have had their development impacted in quite the same, strange ways by COVID as Bart, who was thrust into a big league debut virtually straight out of A ball. The 2019 season ended in pain and frustration for Bart in the Arizona Fall League, when his hand was broken by a HBP for the second time that season. Amazingly, that 2019 year, interrupted by a long IL stint that swallowed up six weeks of the season and impacted several more, is, to date, probably the most normal one of his career.

And now, with Buster Posey leaving a job opening behind for the second time in three seasons, one of the primary questions hovering over the Giants’ spring is: has Bart made enough progress after his painfully difficult debut? Is he ready to step into the big league game again? Can he take on the excruciatingly difficult, and truly unfair, mantel that became his fate the day the Giants made him the second pick of the 2018 draft — the man who would be Buster, who would follow a legend and try to lead the Giants’ into their post-Posey future.

SFGiants @SFGiants

1st round #MLBDraft pick Joey Bart grew up watching Buster Posey play. This is pretty cool ⤵️