There is no replacing Buster Posey, but the Giants are wasting no time turning it over to the next young catcher who will try and carve out his own legendary career in orange and black.
Four years after being taken with the second overall pick in the draft, Joey Bart will start behind the plate for the Giants on Opening Day. Manager Gabe Kapler announced Thursday that Bart will team up with Logan Webb, lining the Giants up behind a pair of 25-year-olds to start their NL West title defense.
"He's definitely earned that responsibility," Kapler said.
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For Bart, this is years in the making, but also earlier than he could have expected last year as he worked on his game in Triple-A. He debuted in an emergency situation in 2020, but Posey returned the following season to regain the starting job. After Posey's retirement, Bart came into camp with high expectations and had a huge spring.
Kapler was coy about his plans in March, but by the end of the month, it became clear that Bart had earned the right to catch the first pitch of the season.
"It's what you live for," Bart said. "Personally, I've always been a guy that lives for that. I wouldn't be here if I didn't have that in my heart, and I'm super-excited about getting out here and competing and setting the tone."
Bart looked more comfortable and confident from the first day of camp in Scottsdale, wowing coaches and teammates with his preparation and attention to detail in workouts. He then went out and picked up eight hits in 22 at-bats, including three homers, but Kapler said that wasn't the reason for Friday's assignment.
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"I think it's much more based on what's happened over the course of the last several years, his growth and his development and his commitment and his preparation, rather than just saying, like, 'He had a great camp.'" Kapler said. "And he did, but what we saw in camp made us confident (about) what's happened since spring training of 2020 and factoring in his development prior to that. It was the buildup. He's ready for this moment."
Bart enters the opener with 109 career at-bats over 35 games the last two seasons, but he still has rookie eligibility, and Webb predicted great things this season. He said he thinks Bart will be the National League's Rookie of the Year, something Posey accomplished in 2010.
"I think he's going to have a special year and I think he's going to show what he can do and how he can do it," Webb said. "It's going to be fun to watch, it's going to be fun to throw to, and it's going to be very exciting to see him grow and get the full experience."
It all starts Friday against the Miami Marlins with what could be a landmark moment for the franchise. The Giants built their dynasty behind a homegrown All-Star catcher and strong homegrown pitching, and they'll send two players with sky-high ceilings out Friday.
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The opener will be the start of the title defense, although not many around the game are picking the Giants to repeat. Bart said the low win projections have just provided "extra fire for us."
"You see the things come across MLB Network and all these guys talking about what their projections are, and that's fine," he said. "At the end of the day we're going to square it up tomorrow and the season is going to get rolling and I like where we're going to be."