4-3-24 – By Ethan Smith – @mvp_etHaN on X
The Pittsburgh Pirates were off on Tuesday, but General Manager Ben Cherington wasn’t, as he acquired San Francisco Giants catcher and 2018 second overall selection, Joey Bart, in exchange for minor league right-hander, Austin Strickland.
Bart hasn’t quite lived up to his 2018 pre-draft hype thus far in his career, slashing .219/.288/.335/.623 w/ 11 HR and 38 RBI in 457 at-bats across four seasons. Outside of 2022 (when he played his career best 97 games), Bart has never played more than 33 games in any of his other three MLB seasons.
With the introduction of Patrick Bailey for the Giants, it seemed Bart, and his subpar play, were put on the back burner by the Giants, who have still been looking for their everyday catcher since Buster Posey hung up his cleats.
As far as Bart and his arrival in Pittsburgh are concerned, it is interesting as to what the plan is moving forward at the catcher position behind Henry Davis, especially seeing as Bart has no more minor league options.
He now enters a room, headlined by Davis, that has three guys who make sense as backup catcher options, those three options being Bart himself, Jason Delay and Yasmani Grandal.
To move Bart to the roster, Jason Delay is being assigned to the 10-day IL, with his injury remaining unknown for now. Colin Selby was designated for assignment to make space for Bart on the 40-man roster – so that wraps up the roster movement side of things.
Between Delay heading to the IL and Yasmani Grandal, who has been struggling with a foot injury that has hindered him from playing, this move makes sense as the Pirates need a backup to Davis. With Ali Sanchez electing free agency last week, they had no MLB-ready options.
The dynamic behind Davis becomes interesting once Delay and Grandal become healthy, as the Pirates clearly won’t carry four catchers on the 26-man roster, but there is a possibility they could carry three if they wanted to.
For instance, having Davis, Bart and Delay on the roster together could open up a path for Davis to get DH at-bats on his days off from catching, while Bart and Delay could supplement the backup role together, getting playing time for both.
This also opens the door for a mid-season position battle for the backup catcher spot, especially when/if Grandal returns. The Bart acquisition ultimately creates depth at the catcher position, seeing as Delay does have minor league options, if they decided to go the route of sending him to AAA.
So once again, we’re having the conversation of a Pirates position group having depth, which is not a bad thing whatsoever. The return the Giants received from the Pirates is a lottery ticket as Strickland was an 8th round draft pick by the Pirates last year who hasn’t yet made his pro debut.
And who knows, maybe a change of scenery could suit Bart well, but his incoming inclusion to the roster does offer a unique scenario for Cherington once all the catching options are healthy. For now, it appears Bart will be the primary backup catcher behind Davis while Delay and Grandal nurse their injuries, and we should be able to paint a better picture when those guys return as to how the Pirates handle the catcher position and their newest acquisition moving forward.
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