What’s Giants’ plan for top prospects Bart and Ramos?
By the end of the 2020 regular season, the San Francisco Giants’ 2018 firstround draft choice, Joey Bart, had already ascended into a role as the club’s everyday catcher.
Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and manager Gabe Kapler said during spring training they would be reluctant to rush Bart to the majors because he had plenty of room left to develop, but Buster Posey’s decision to sit out the season changed the team’s plans.
With no minor league games to play and no catchers in the organization who were demonstrably better than Bart, the Giants were left with little choice but to see how he would fare in the big leagues.
Bart’s 33-game, 104-at-bat stretch wasn’t much of a sample size, but it showed why the Giants were insistent he would benefit from more time in the minors. In 2021, Bart should get that time.
With Posey planning to report to Scottsdale, Ariz. alongside the rest of the Giants’ pitchers and catchers this week, there’s no chance Bart would immediately regain his role as a starter. After the Giants signed veteran catcher Curt Casali to a one-year deal, Kapler called Bart to inform him he probably wouldn’t be a backup either.
“That conversation was centered around the fact that this is an opportunity for him to go and get really important reps and to develop,” Kapler said. “From behind the plate and his game-calling ability, and also work on his swing and his approach at the plate and basically every aspect of his game.”
Neither Kapler nor Zaidi has detailed how much time they expect Bart to spend in the minors this season, but the incentive structure of Casali’s contract could provide some clues. When the Giants signed the 32-year-old backstop, Casali agreed to a deal in which he would receive $125,000 roster bonuses for spending 30, 60, 90 and 120 days with the major league club.
Barring an early-season surge from Bart, the window of time in between 60 and 90 days of service time for Casali seems like the most optimistic timeline for the Giants’ top prospect to return to the majors. That would allow Bart to receive more than 200 at-bats at Triple-A while giving Casali a two-month period to help Posey ease his way back into major league action.
If it takes Bart until July to prove he’s ready to play in tandem with Posey, the Giants could end up paying Casali the bonus he’s due after 90 days of service time, but the team also has the flexibility to shuttle Chadwick Tromp back and forth from Triple-A to the majors for a look at a different catcher.
Regardless of what unfolds early in the season, Kapler said he’s already impressed by how Bart has handled a challenging situation.
“He took a very professional, very accountable position, and feels like this is going to be an opportunity for him to improve and be ready the next time he’s called upon at the major league level,” Kapler said of his phone conversation with Bart.
If the coronavirus pandemic didn’t lead to the cancellation of the 2020 minor league season, it’s possible one of Bart’s closest friends in the Giants’ organization would have also debuted in the majors last year.