The San Francisco Giants are promoting the No. 2 pick in the 2017 draft, catching prospect Joey Bart, to the majors on Thursday, according to Maria I. Guardado of MLB.com. Bart's call-up comes just a day after Detroit Tigers right-hander Casey Mize made his big-league debut. Mize, of course, was the only player selected ahead of Bart in the 2017 draft.
Coming into the season, CBS Sports considered Bart to be the Giants' third-best prospect, behind outfielder Heliot Ramos and infielder Marco Luciano. The reasons for that rank were straightforward: Bart is considered to have only one plus tool, with that being his mitt. Even his defense is under question, as some teams' internal framing metrics grade him as average.
Bart is considered to have above-average raw power and arm strength, and he should add value with the aspects of catcher defense that cannot be quantified. Still, the conclusion of his rankings writeup asserted that he was more likely to be solid than a star, and that remains true.
Of course, the Giants would gladly settle for a solid backstop given the production they've received from their catchers this season. San Francisco's catching tandem entering the day, Chadwick Tromp and Tyler Heineman, both had OPS in the .500s. The Giants' overall OPS from catchers was the fifth-worst in the majors entering Thursday, ahead of only the Cardinals, Cleveland, the Padres, and the Rockies.
Bart isn't the only first-round catcher in the Giants system, by the way. San Francisco selected Patrick Bailey with the 13th pick in June's draft.
Buster Posey, who has been San Francisco's primary catcher for more than a decade, elected to opt out of the season because of family-related concerns inspired by COVID-19.
