Top prospect Bart catches another bad break in fall league
Top Giants prospect Joey Bart suffered a nondisplaced fracture of his right thumb on Tuesday night while playing in an Arizona Fall League game for the Scottsdale (Arizona) Scorpions.
The No. 1 prospect in the Giants’ farm system and No. 2 overall draft pick in 2018 was hit in the right hand by a fastball thrown by Pirates prospect Blake Cederlind in Tuesday’s game and is likely to miss the rest of the Fall League schedule because of the injury.
Team specialist Dr. Donald Sheridan in Scottsdale reported no surgery is needed, and he expects Bart to make a full recovery in 4-6 weeks.
The injury is the second Bart has dealt with this year as he also missed six weeks during his time with High-A San Jose due to a fractured second metacarpal in his left hand that was also the result of a hit by pitch.
Bart was recently named to the Arizona Fall League’s Fall Stars Game, but will not have the chance to play in a showcase of the league’s top prospects. The Georgia Tech product was 10 for 30 with four home runs and a 1.290 OPS, which led all players with at least five atbats.
Bart’s latest hand injury is his third in the past four years as he also missed the final 11 games of his sophomore season at Georgia Tech in 2017 with a broken thumb.
After missing extended time during the regular season, Bart struggled to consistently hit for power upon returning to the San Jose Giants. A late-season hot streak earned the catcher a promotion to Double-A Richmond, where he hit four home runs and posted a .912 OPS in 22 games in the pitcher-friendly Eastern League.
College football
FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN
TO START AT QB FOR BYU >> Jaren Hall’s first career start for BYU will be historic as he will become the school’s first AfricanAmerican starting quarterback when he takes the field against South Florida on Saturday. Hall, a redshirt freshman, was elevated to the role of starter when sophomore Zach Wilson underwent surgery on his passing thumb. Wilson will miss at least six weeks.
Hall was the first African-American quarterback to take a snap for the school last season.
Gymnastics
RUSSIA TAKES MEN’S GOLD >> Russia won its first men’s all-around team gymnastics world title since the end of the Soviet Union after a crucial fall from China. China went into the high bar — the last rotation for both China and Russia — with a 1.394-point lead but Sun Wei’s fall allowed Russia to snatch the initiative in Stuttgart, Germany.
Strong high bar routines from Ivan Stretovich, Artur Dalaloyan and Nikita Nagornyy lifted Russia to a total score of 261.726. That was 0.997 ahead of China, which had won the men’s team event at seven of the last eight world championships.
It was the first time Russia had won this title since the Soviet Union’s victory in 1991.
Japan took the bronze, continuing its run of reaching the men’s team podium at every world championships since 2003.
Tennis
DJOKOVIC BEATS SHAPOVALOV TO REACH
THIRD ROUND IN SHANGHAI >> Novak Djokovic opened his title defense at the Shanghai Masters by beating Denis Shapovalov 6-3, 6-3 to reach the third round.
Dominic Thiem kept his momentum going after winning last week’s China Open, beating Pablo Carreno Busta 7-6 (3), 6-3. Thiem had lost in the second round in Shanghai the last four years in a row.
The 16th-seeded John Isner was the only one of three Americans to advance, beating Lucas Pouille of France 7-5, 6-3.
GAUFF REACHES 1ST WTA
QUARTERFINAL IN AUSTRIA >> Coco Gauff reached her first WTA quarterfinal when Kateryna Kozlova retired during the third set of their second-round match at the Upper Austria Ladies in Linz, Austria.
Kozlova retired with the American teenager leading 4-6, 6-4, 2-0. With the result, Gauff will move into the top 100 in the world
when new rankings are issued Monday.
AMERICAN COLLINS BEGINS
TREATMENT FOR RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS >> American Danielle Collins said she has begun treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, an immune disorder that can cause debilitating swelling and pain in the joints. The Florida native enjoyed a breakout season in 2019, reaching a career-high ranking of 23rd in the world and reaching the Australian Open semifinals in January.
“I have not been feeling all that great for quite some time, but it has been somewhat of a relief and completely validating to understand the cause behind my pain,” the 25-year-old wrote on Instagram.
“As I have started treatment, I am looking forward to embracing this next challenge in life.”
NHL
PENGUINS DEALING WITH INJURIES >> The Pittsburgh Penguins placed forward Alex Galchenyuk on injured reserve after he aggravated an undisclosed injury that limited him during the preseason. Galchenyuk joins center Evgeni Malkin and forwards Bryan Rust and Nick Bjugstad on IR for the Penguins, who are off to a 1-2-0 start. Galchenyuk, acquired in an offseason trade with Arizona, has two assists in three games.
Men’s college basketball
KANSAS COACH SELF SAYS
SHOW NOT A SHOT AT NCAA >> Kansas coach Bill Self said there was no intent to mock the NCAA with the program’s controversial use of Snoop Dogg as entertainment at its Late Night show last Friday night.
The rapper’s 35-minute performance included profane language, scantily clad pole dancers and fake $100 bills shot from a money gun. Self was featured in a promotional video earlier in the week wearing a chain with a dollar bill sign while wearing Adidas apparel to help promote the event, which is Kansas’ annual season-opening unveiling of the basketball team.
Adidas representatives in the college basketball corruption case have been convicted in federal court of providing financial inducements to family members of recruits to help sway players decide to attend Kansas. The NCAA recently handed down a notice of allegations against the university and possible severe punishment could occur.
“I do not like the narrative that has been said concerning that with me, but I also understand I can’t control what the media writes or their opinions,” Self said during a press conference on Wednesday. “I do know and people that know me know that’s not factually true in any way shape or form.”
Self said he was miffed that the entertainer selected could be viewed as part of a plan to taunt the NCAA.
HALL OF FAME COACH CALHOUN ACCUSED OF SEX DISCRIMINATION >> Hall of Fame basketball coach Jim Calhoun has been accused of sexual discrimination by a former associate athletic director at the University of Saint Joseph, the Division III school where Calhoun now works.
Jaclyn Piscitelli filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the small Catholic school in West Hartford, Connecticut. Piscitelli’s attorneys said she was fired in June after complaining about the conduct of men in the athletic department, including the 77-year-old Calhoun, whom she alleges helped turn the department into “a boys club” after he was hired to form and coach the school’s men’s basketball team.
Piscitelli alleges that she was belittled by other male members of the athletic department who received preferential treatment and would “frequently leave work to play golf with Calhoun during the workday.”
Women’s basketball
U.S. NATIONAL TEAM ANNOUNCES COLLEGE EXHIBITION GAMES >> The U.S. women’s national basketball team’s college tour is set to tip off next month.
USA Basketball announced that members of the women’s team will play exhibition games at Stanford, Oregon State, Texas A&M and Oregon in early November to prepare for the FIBA tournament later in the month.
The game at Stanford’s Maples Pavilion will be Saturday, Nov. 2, at 4 p.m.