The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Stellar Yellow Jackets career makes Bart big-time prospect
Joey Bart took the field at SunTrust Park alongside his Yellow Jackets teammates. He was where he wanted to be, and could be, for years to come: a major league baseball stadium.
He missed last year’s Georgia Tech-UGA rendezvous at the Braves’ park with a broken thumb. The catcher attests that sitting out that game tore him up. And while Tech left Tuesday with a 3-1 loss, he gained perspective.
“That was unbelievable,” Bart said. “When we were jogging out for warm-ups, it hit me. This is where I want to be, in a big league stadium. There’s something else about it. Just that feeling, the rush you get. The excitement, the buzz, everything about it is second to none. That was a lot of fun.”
Bart, a Buford native, committed to Tech when he was 15, largely because of his relationship with coach Danny Hall, whose son, Carter, has played with Bart since they were around 12 years old.
The Rays selected Bart in the 27th round of the 2015 MLB draft. But he passed on the pros in favor of col- legiate development.
That proved wise: Bart has hit .320 across his renowned Tech career. He’s hit 26 hom- ers, 34 doubles, collecting 105 RBIs with a .531 slug- ging percentage.
“To see his development from 12- or 13-year-old to 21-year-old grown man, it’s been fun to watch,” Hall said. “Great competitor, hard worker, tremendous talent. I’m convinced he’ll be a major league catcher for a lot of years.”
In what likely is his final season, Bart has hit .362 with 12 homers and 31 RBIs in 48 games. He’s made a statisti- cal leap in near every category from his sophomore
season to his junior season.
“I love every second I’ve been here,” he said. “And moving forward, if I’m here, who knows? But Georgia Tech is a great place. There’s a lot of opportunity here. Coaches let us play. Not a lot of college coaches give you the freedom these guys have. They really want you to progress and move forward, play in the big leagues.
“This is why I came here. It’s a steppingstone for me to make it in professional base- ball . ... The way these guys have set me up for the future, it couldn’t have worked any better.”
It’s not just the offense. Bart is a multi-faceted catcher, praised for his ability to call a game and throw out base runners.
Georgia coach Scott Strick- lin saw it firsthand April 25. Bart picked off a runner at second and threw out Tucker Maxwell, who hadn’t been caught stealing in 2018, at third with a right-handed hitter at the plate.
“He’ll catch in the big leagues,” Stricklin said of the
6-foot-3, 225-pound backstop. “Anytime you see someone do something that’s difficult and they make it look easy, you know they’re really talented. Joey, when you watch him, it just kind of looks easy for him, and it’s not. I was a catcher, I know it’s not easy, but yeah, he’s got a plus arm, big-time power and he’s athletic. He’s a good leader; he calls all the pitches. I think he’s going to be a first-round pick, and I think he’ll be in the big leagues within a couple years.”
As Stricklin alluded to, Bart is the consensus top catcher prospect in the nation. He’s expected to go top 10 in next month’s MLB draft, perhaps even top five.
If a team selects him within the first five picks, he would join Kyle Schwarber (No. 4, 2014) and Mike Zunino (No. 3, 2012), Tony Sanchez (No. 4, 2009) and Buster Posey (No. 5, 2008) as catchers with that distinction over the past 10 years.
Baseball America pegged him at No. 2 overall to the Giants in its latest mock draft.