Giants: Does Aramis Garcia’s injury open the door for Joey Bart?

With Aramis Garcia out for 2020, it’s worth wondering if San Francisco Giants top prospect Joey Bart has a chance to make the Opening Day roster.

The San Francisco Giants do not have a clear backup catcher heading into the 2020 season, and that situation was complicated even further when it was revealed that one of the favorite for the job, Aramis Garcia, could miss up to eight months following hip surgery.

Could that injury open the door for top prospect Joey Bart?

Prior to the injury, Garcia was considered the favorite because he had the longest track record of all the candidates vying for the backup job. He is also capable of playing first base, which no doubt makes him valuable in the eyes of Farhan Zaidi who prizes versatility.

Now that he is injured, the competition for the backup spot is wide open with Tyler Heineman, Chadwick Tromp, and Joey Bart likely competing to see who will back up Buster Posey.

Just a few days ago, I wrote an article breaking down what it would take for Bart to make the team on Opening Day. My two biggest points were that he would need to tear the cover off the ball in spring training, and would need either Posey or Garcia to sustain an injury.

I don’t profess to be Nostradamus, but unfortunately one of those premonitions has come true. If the other one came true, though, it would be a positive for all involved.

It will still be an uphill battle for Bart to make the team out of camp.

The Giants would retain more control over him if he were to begin the year in the minors, and they probably still want to see him playing every day at Triple-A rather than getting infrequent at-bats as a backup to Posey.

However, Garcia’s injury does open the door for Bart to get promoted quicker than he might otherwise have been.

If he starts the season in the minors and lights it up for the first month of the season and Tyler Heineman fails to prove that he’s this year’s Stephen Vogt, then we could see Bart called up much quicker than initially anticipated.

So while Garcia’s injury likely does not change the fact that Bart will begin 2020 in Triple-A, it could mean that he gets called up a lot quicker to help out the big league club in 2020.