PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Since Francisco Cervelli in 2018, the Pirates haven’t had a true number one catcher. For the first time in those seven years the Pirates enter into 2025 with stability at that spot.
It didn’t come from a master plan, rather just taking a shot on Joey Bart. Available just as the season was underway in 2024, the Pirates sent a minor league pitcher for the man who was going to replace Buster Posey in San Francisco. Drafted second overall in 2018, two years later Bart was in the big leagues. In 2022, he started 97 games for the Giants with 11 home runs. But he wasn’t Posey. The average was just .215 that season with a .660 OPS. He would have worse numbers in 30 games in 2023, a .528 OPS and he was no longer a part of the Giants future.
He came to the Pirates in early April and had a career year, .265 average, 11 doubles, 13 home runs, .799 OPS in 80 games. Now after a full season and his first Spring Training with the club, Bart is excited about what this year can bring, not just for him, but the pitching staff and club in general.
“I’m a competitor,” Bart said. “I love to get better. Find a way to get better and improve my game. Then once you come out and play, you just have fun and let it all out and really enjoy it. I think it’s very important to enjoy the game. A lot of people get caught up in the stress, and obviously it’s real, but just going out there and letting it all go and having fun. That’s my approach to it.”
And while he had good offensive numbers last year, he was still competing in Bradenton. Two of the Pirates best prospects are also catchers, not that his starting job was necessarily in jeopardy, but the franchise has a lot invested in Henry Davis and Endy Rodriguez.
Having been that high prospect, Bart may be in the perfect position as the starter.
“The catcher position is hard,” Bart said. “We need two, three, four.. a lot of good ones to keep everybody on track and keep everybody comfortable. I think at the end of the day, we work for them. We work for the pitcher. That’s my job — to take care of them and do the best job I can. If I’m not playing that day and somebody else is, I’m gonna spill everything I got to try and get us a win.”
There is a smile that comes to his face when asking about the young pitching.
“It’s definitely talented,” Bart said. “Everybody across the league knows, even talking to a lot of hitters across the league that faced us. They’re good. Our guys are good and are going to continue to get better.”
The 28-year-old is spending as much time as possible to get to know them, all of them. Understanding what they are working on. Finding what they really do well and keeping them on track doing that. He views it as his job to make sure every pitcher is ready for the 162-game grind. That starts with pregame meetings, doing everything right in the bullpen and then executing in the game. And when things aren’t going as planned, being able to make those adjustments where each side trusts the other. Bart said that familiarity grows just with simple conversations.
The Georgia native, with family ties to the Pittsburgh area, says he continually works to improve his defense. He’s also constantly watching film of himself at the plate and diving into to improving those career-best stats from 2024.
Think about some of the Pirates catchers over the last few seasons:
· Yasmani Grandal
· Austin Hedges
· Roberto Perez
· Tyler Heineman
· Michael Perez
· John Ryan Murphy
Now it appears the team has not only stability with a young catcher as the lead, but others right on his heels fighting for opportunities.