Former SF Giants top prospect having sophomore slump with new club

The SF Giants traded away former top prospect Joey Bart to the Pittsburgh Pirates last season only to see him have a breakout year. He has not been able to build upon that this season though as he's had a bit of a sophomore slump.

Last season in 80 games with the Pirates, Bart slashed .265/.337/.462 with 13 home runs and 45 runs batted in. Coming into 2025 it seemed he had earned a starting role with the team but it is now more complicated than that.

Former SF Giants prospect Joey Bart having sophomore slump with Pirates

Entering Saturday, in 89 games with the Pirates in 2025 Bart has slashed .240/.350/.321 with three home runs and 26 runs batted in. Those numbers are not atrocious, but they are a distant cry from what he did last year and certainly leave something to be desired.

To be fair, Bart did have to deal with a concussion suffered earlier this season and he has also had to compete for playing time with several other catchers in Pittsburgh including Henry Davis who was the first player selected overall in the 2021 MLB Draft.

About a month ago it looked like Bart was losing playing time to Davis but it seems like the playing time has evened out more as of late.

After last season, the Giants may have had a fair amount of seller's remorse as Bart was looking like he could end up being a really good player for the Pirates. He has been fine this year, but he has definitely taken a step back so they probably do not feel as bad for letting him go.

Still, with the offensive struggles that Patrick Bailey has had for much of this year as well as the fact that they have been unable to get an above-average backup catcher to support Bailey, it is only natural to wonder how things would look if the Giants had held onto Bart and made him Bailey's backup in 2024 especially after the whole Tom Murphy disaster.

As things stand, Bart is in Pittsburgh and is having a bit of a down year. We will see how Pittsburgh handles the catcher position next year since Davis is slashing an uninspiring .160/.232/.266 with six homers and 20 runs batted in so maybe Bart will still have the upper hand going forward despite his disappointing second season with the Pirates.

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