SCOTTSDALE, Arizona — Before the first workout of the spring, the promising Joey Bart sat by his locker explaining what it would mean to catch Madison Bumgarner in a bullpen session.
He chose the words, “A dream come true.”
Less than an hour later, Bumgarner turned that dream into a reality.
The Giants ace asked the No. 2 overall pick in the 2018 draft to catch his first bullpen workout of the year.
“I was kind of shocked, but it was fun,” said Bart, who already is one of the Giants’ most important players to watch.
Beyond the right-field stands at Scottsdale Stadium, Bart caught the three-time World Series champion while Buster Posey worked alongside him, catching Ty Blach’s bullpen session. Though Bart acknowledged being nervous while introducing himself to Bumgarner earlier this week, the nerves disappeared as soon as they took the field together.
Welcome to Giants camp, where expectations are sky-high for Bart, who will likely spend a few weeks in the big league clubhouse before returning to minor league camp to prepare for the start of the season with Single-A San Jose.
Last February, Bart was gearing up for his junior season at Georgia Tech. A year later, he’s playing for manager Bruce Bochy who vows to let Bart catch in a few Cactus League games.
“I’m going to try to get him in there when I can,” Bochy said. “We have a competition going on and that makes it a little bit more difficult, but with the number of games we have and split squads, I’ll try to find ways to get him in there.”
Bart is one of seven catchers in Giants camp, five of whom have a realistic chance of earning an Opening Day roster spot. As Posey continues to progress following August hip surgery, the Giants have prioritized adding depth behind the plate. Four catchers in camp –Stephen Vogt, Rene Rivera, Cameron Rupp and Aramis Garcia– have big league experience while another, Hamlet Marte, has spent the last eight seasons in the minors.
Then there’s Bart, who hit 13 home runs in 204 at-bats with a Giants’ short-season affiliate in his professional debut last summer.
A decade ago, Posey found himself in a similar position. After being selected fifth overall by the Giants in the 2008 draft, he arrived in big league camp in 2009 to serve as an understudy to Bengie Molina. He took in every piece of advice Molina had to offer and by September, Posey was in the big leagues.
Now, it’s Posey’s turn to play mentor.
“I think if there was one piece of information that I’d want to relay to him is that he’s responsible for his career,” Posey said. “There’s nobody else more responsible for it. You can’t point to coaches, other players, mom, dad, analytics, you’re ultimately the one that’s responsible for how you take care of your business.”
Even before the Giants selected Bart, the catcher paid close attention to Posey’s career. Now that they’re in the same organization, Bart is eager to learn the nuances of the position from the six-time All-Star.
“I’ve already been told by a few guys to stay as tight to him as you can,” Bart said. “Everyone around here says that he’s a genius and obviously it shows. Whatever he can show me or give me pointers on, I’ll be right there trying to soak it all up.”
Though Bart is viewed as a future middle-of-the-order presence thanks to his impressive power, he’s planning to devote much of his time this spring to learn the Giants pitching staff. Becoming an elite two-way talent is important to Bart who said he hopes to receive as much experience as possible catching bullpens this spring.
“Learning what the (pitchers) want to do is obviously going to be the biggest challenge,” Bart said. “Ahead of hitting a 100-mile per hour fastball, learning what every single guy likes to throw, what count and what their out pitch is.”
For now, that learning process includes studying notecards and working a slew of big leaguers. If all goes according to plan for Bart and the Giants, pitchers won’t have a chance to request Bart catch their bullpens.
He’ll be too busy playing big league games.
