Joey Bart’s talent is not a surprise at the moment. The Giants’ best prospect has proven his worth over the past two years in major league spring training, and he did so once again when the players returned to Oracle Park for summer camp.
The former No. 2 overall draft talent has never been a question. But what he did on a daily basis with the major leagues beyond measurement is what really stood out for Giants general manager Scott Harris.
“He really impressed with the bat, which is something everyone talks about,” Harris told Alex Pavlovic and Kelli Johnson at the Giants Pregame Live on Wednesday night. “But personally, I was very impressed with how he mixed with some of the most decorated MLB players who were at camp with us, how he was determined to forge real relationships with MLB pitchers, how he learned from other players in Major League Baseball about routines and how to call a game at the major league level.
“And also how to prepare his body and mind for consistent execution in the box and consistently putting together those high-level major league at-bats we are looking for from him.”
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Bart, 23, could be in the big leagues anytime right now. The Giants saved an extra year of his service by keeping him off the MLB roster for the first five games. He’s currently training at the team’s alternate site in Sacramento, but player development director Kyle Haines told NBC Sports Bay Area on Wednesday that “I don’t think it’s going to be much longer” until Bart makes his debut with the Giants.
However, before that happens, Harris wants Bart to continue developing two specific areas of his games.
“Our focus with Joey specifically is on some of those development goals that we’ve been very frank about,” Harris said. “One, to continue to improve his game calling. Not because we care at all about his ability to call a game, we just want to give him as much experience and as many reps as possible. But we are also trying to expose him to other positions and have been frank about it both with Joey and in public. ”
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The Giants have made it clear for quite some time that they want Bart, who has only played as a catcher since his college days at Georgia Tech, to add another position to his toolbox. Both he and wide receiver Patrick Bailey, whom the Giants took with the No. 13 pick in the MLB 2020 Draft, are learning to play first base right now.
It looks like he’ll only be working on catcher and first base, from now on.
“I think the more positions Joey can play, the more opportunities he will have to put his bat in a major league lineup every night and allow him to impact big league games each and every night,” Harris said.
Putting Bart in a major league lineup looks like it will happen soon. How soon is still someone’s best guess.
