Pirates fans turning on Joey Bart allows SF Giants to breathe huge sigh of relief

The SF Giants are trying to sort things out at the catcher position right now, but long gone are the days when Giants fans lamented the fact that the team gave up on former top prospect Joey Bart. Pittsburgh Pirates fans have soured on him and it’s not hard to understand why.

Offensively, Bart has had a rough year. He’s played in 18 games and is hitting a paltry .196/.240/.283 with one home run and three runs batted in. He’s walked just twice and has struck out 18 times in 46 at-bats.

Not only has he struggled at the plate, but his defense has come into question as well. Pirates fans have pointed out the fact that some of the team’s pitchers have a much higher walk rate when pitching to Bart compared to Henry Davis. 

Some have even questioned why Bart is still on the team if he’s not hitting and also actively hurting the pitching staff. It may be unfair to Bart, but some fans are clearly not thrilled with him. Maybe he will turn it around soon but it’s clear that he’s not having the post-Giants renaissance that many feared.

Bart's post-Giants surge may have just been a mirage

It was scary in 2024. The Giants traded him to Pittsburgh because they were content with Patrick Bailey as the catcher of the future and Bart proceeded to have a very solid year offensively, hitting .265/.337/.462 with 13 home runs and 45 runs batted in. He was the starter to begin 2025 but didn’t hit as well which led to more of a time-share behind the dish. Bart hit .249/.355/.350 that season as his power numbers really fell off a cliff.

And now those struggles have continued in 2026.

No one wishes ill on a player, especially one like Bart who was always very professional with the Giants despite tough circumstances and not being put in the best position to succeed, but it really would have stung if he went on to be great with the Pirates and Bailey went on to be as inept as he currently looks at the plate.

The decision to commit to Bailey looks like a hasty one in retrospect even though he did show a lot of promise at the plate in 2023 and was already one of the best defensive catchers in the game. Now his offensive numbers are in the gutter and it seems pretty clear that the Giants are pivoting off him.

It would not be a huge shock if San Francisco rolled with Jesus Rodriguez and Daniel Susac at catcher for the most part whenever Susac is healthy. Bailey might even get sent down to the minors since he has a minor league option remaining or maybe the Giants will try to trade him.

The catcher situation in San Francisco is far from ideal, but at least moving on from Bart does not look like the huge mistake it appeared to be in 2024.

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