A strong junior season both behind and at the plate made Georgia Tech catcher Joey Bart the second overall selection in the 2018 MLB Draft, picked by the San Francisco Giants on Monday night.
Georgia Tech catcher Joey Bart drafted 2nd overall by the San Francisco Giants
Bart hit .359/.471/.632 with 16 home runs and 41 walks in 57 games for the Yellow Jackets this season, was named the ACC Player of the Year and the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year, as well as named an first team All-American by Baseball America.
“At the plate, Bart is aggressive, and attacks at any pitch he sees,” wrote Wayne Cavadi at SB Nation’s Minor League Ball in February. “He does make contact, and it is seemingly always hard.”
The Tampa Bay Rays drafted Bart out of Buford High School in Georgia in the 27th round in 2015, but he instead opted to go to college at nearby Georgia Tech.
“Great competitor, hard worker, tremendous talent,” Yellow Jackets coach Danny Hall told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in May. “I’m convinced he’ll be a major league catcher for a lot of years.”
Keith Law of ESPN called Bart “a plus defensive catcher with a 70 arm and 70 raw power,” and Baseball America said the 6’3, 225-pound catcher “has all the tools necessary to become an above-average defensive catcher at the pro level.”
Bart is the highest draft pick in Georgia Tech history, picked earlier than pitcher Kevin Brown, who was selected fourth by Texas in 1986.
He is the first catcher drafted in the first round by the Giants since Buster Posey was taken fifth overall in 2008.
“That would be so cool,” Bart said last week of possibly getting picked by San Francisco. “(Posey’s) a guy I look up to and I have for a long time — Georgia guy, play the same position. He’s one of the best players in the game. So my name being mentioned there is crazy.”
The No. 2 pick has an allotted bonus slot value of $7,494,600.
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