Decision day: SF Giants option Joey Bart, move forward with Patrick Bailey, Blake Sabol
SAN FRANCISCO — “Absolutely,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler answered Saturday afternoon, asked if Joey Bart, the club’s highest draft pick since Will Clark, the supposed successor to Buster Posey, still had a future in the organization.
The Giants’ actions, however, confirmed the current pecking order behind the plate: Bart was activated from his rehab assignment and optioned to Triple-A Sacramento. The catching duties, for now and perhaps years to come, belong to Patrick Bailey, the Giants’ top selection just two years after Bart, and Blake Sabol, their Rule 5 pick this past winter. Unlike Bart, both were acquired by the current Farhan Zaidi administration.
“He was feeling physically healthy and there wasn’t a spot on the roster for Joey,” Kapler said. “We made the decision that was best for the group, which was to option him.”
In the clubhouse before Saturday’s game, two stalls in the catchers’ clump of lockers were cleared out; they belonged to Bart. Meanwhile, in the middle of the room, Sabol and Bailey engaged in a game of bumper pool. A victorious Sabol eventually took a seat in front of his locker, situated next to Bailey’s, and wondered aloud about utilizing the extra space.
When and if Bart returns to reclaim his spot will likely be determined more by the play and the health of two catchers who remain on the roster. Bailey, who has claimed the starting role with his excellent defense and hot hitting, was held out Saturday for the third time in four games; the neck stiffness that cropped up in Colorado was aggravated Friday by a foul ball off his face mask. Rather than add Bart to the roster, the Giants gave Sabol his third start in four games.
Asked what he needed to see from Bart at Triple-A, Kapler didn’t have much of an answer.
“There’s nothing new to share there,” he said. “Those are all things that I’ve shared over the last couple of years.”
When healthy this season — he’s been forced to the IL twice already — Bart has cut down on his strikeout rate and made serious strides as a defender. His work ethic — first in the building, last to leave — is lauded by his teammates. But given opportunities in three different seasons, Bart has yet to put the whole package together for an extended stretch of time. He hasn’t homered since last September, a 44-game stretch, and this season is slugging only five percentage points higher (.291) than he is getting on base (.286).
“We want him to be a good all-around baseball player,” Kapler said. “He’s been working toward that and made some significant strides that of course we appreciate. … To be a good all around major leaguer, hitter, offensive player, you need to make consistent, solid contact and control the strike zone, and those are still areas that Joey’s working on. Not 100% there yet.”
The Giants are 9-6 in games started by Bailey, and their pitchers have posted a 2.62 ERA in 141 innings with him behind the plate. Before leaving Friday night’s game, he used his arm to record two of the three outs in the first inning, and even with an 0-for-2 night at the plate still owns an impressive .298/.322/.526 batting line.
As a Rule 5 draftee, Sabol cannot be optioned to the minors and has given the Giants little reason to want to in the first place. While the 25-year-old has thrown out only three of 25 attempted base stealers (a 12% success rate, well below the league average of 19%), his seven home runs rank sixth among National League rookies, and his 0.7 Wins Above Replacement are tied for ninth.
“They’re two guys that don’t even have a full year of service time,” starter Logan Webb said. “They’ve done a great job of handling a lot of veteran guys. I think they’ve all done a great job, including Joey. It’s a good problem to have, I guess, when you’ve got three guys like that who can do that job.”
Bart was optioned after Friday night’s game and met with Kapler in his office.
“Basically what Joey said is he’s going to put his head down and keep grinding and get ready to come help us as soon as possible,” Kapler said. “It’ll be nice to know that we have, if we need to call on Joey and he’s the right option for us, it’ll be nice to know that we have an experienced major-league, young, still very talented catcher in Sacramento for us.”
Kapler on Pride
The Giants celebrated their annual Pride Day on Saturday, honoring the LGBTQ+ community by displaying rainbow-colored logos on their caps and the sleeves of their jerseys for the nationally televised game. In 2021, the Giants became the first MLB team to wear the pride colors on their jerseys and hats, a practice that has grown in popularity around the league but has also drawn pushback from select players who say inclusion conflict with their personal beliefs.
The Giants, for the third year in a row, were full participants.
“We have no issues in our clubhouse about any of that stuff,” said outfielder Austin Slater, the team’s MLBPA player representative.
Kapler recalled a text he received from a friend in the lGBTQ+ community before Saturday’s game.
“He mentioned that tens of thousands of people will feel safe and included and part of today,” the Giants manager said. “I said that’s where we want to be, not just at a baseball game, not just major league baseball, but in society and in communities and in the world. That should always be the feeling for everyone. Included, safe and cared for.”