The Giants selected Georgia Tech catcher Joey Bart as their first pick (second overall) in the draft. Here's the MLB profile on him. His "comp" is Matt Wieters. Wieters was a first-rounder (fifth overall) in 2007. The Giants drafted Madison Bumgarner that year with the tenth pick. Baseball America lists Bart as the best catcher in the draft. The buzz on this guy besides his size and power is that unlike most amateur catchers he calls his own games. I'll leave all the analysis and prognosticating to the experts--I think the Giants know what they are doing. First-rounders have a pretty good chance of long-term ML success so I'm hoping for good things. It is interesting that they took a college catcher who might only be 3-4 years away (he's 21) from the bigs and in fact could get his shot sooner. Buster Posey is signed through 2021 and there's a team option for 2022, so you get where this is going. Bart will be groomed as the heir-apparent I expect.
One never knows how these things will turn out but I'm excited to have a new ballplayer in the system (assuming he signs). Welcome to the club, lad. Go Giants!
--M.C.
update: The Giants had the second pick of the second round (45th overall) and selected Sean Hjelle (pronounced like 'jelly'), a 6'11" right-handed pitcher from the University of Kentucky. I suppose the Giants grabbed a real giant, if he makes the bigs he'd match Jon Rauch as the tallest ballplayer all-time. Their next pick is #80 in the third round tomorrow.
*update: The Giants clobber the D-Backs 10-3 behind a four-homer, three-double barrage. Boch pinch-hit Alan Hanson for Derek Holland in the bottom of the 4th and his bases-loaded double broke a 2-2 tie and the rout was on. Reyes Moronta (1), Pierce Johnson (2), Cory Gearrin (1), and Ty Blach (1) finished up and only Gearrin allowed a run. The Giants are back to .500 and MadBum pitches tomorrow!
4 comments:
I'm excited about Joey Bart. I read up on him a few days ago, after I had read that it looked like the Giants were zeroing in on selecting him. The biggest thing that jumped out at me about his progression as a College Player was his increasing plate discipline:
- K/BB ratio went from 4.3 to 3.1 to 1.4!
- He also gets on via HBP quite a bit (20 times in what constitutes a full MLB Season over a 3 year College Career).
- So, OBP starting out at a not-too-shabby .351, then progressing to .370 & .471.
Calling his own pitches is cool, although other elements of his fielding resume don't portend a Buster II.
So, I'm very happy about the hitter we are getting, & hope that he can develop as a Catcher, too.
I'm not a big fan of HBP as an offensive weapon, esp. for a catcher as they get banged up enough. Maybe it just means he crowds the plate and college pitchers don't have the inside command that pros do.
As far as his development as a fielder he'll get plenty of instruction in the minors. Buster and Timmy (and Will Clark) were unusual in that they were almost ML-ready when they left college. That's not normal. Most guys (like Chris Stratton, for example) need the seasoning at the lower levels.
I'm excited about the pick, too. The other Georgia Tech catcher who was a 1st-rounder (#14, 1994) is Jason Varitek. If Bart turns out somewhere on the Wieters-Varitek axis then he'll be an excellent player!
Jake Wong from Grand Cayon Univ, a D1 school in AZ, is pick #80 in the 3rd round. He's a RHP, a starter, but projected as a reliever.
Getting back to the pennant race and the game on hand, it looks as if Bumgarner is going to be the carrier of the Matt Cain Mantle and get no run support. Posey twice up with the bases loaded, once K's, and the second time on a 2-0 count pops out. You would hope Bummy's battery mate would pick him up. Just two more things, (HOW did Evan Longoria ever win a Gold glove)? The other was the brutal strike zone that went against the giants. Zona's starting pitcher was getting an extremely wide strike zone, while Bumgarner was not. Worried about the Strickland Lamb match-up, or Lamm, however he spells his giants killing name.
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