When the Giants demoted catcher Joey Bart to Triple-A on Wednesday after a rough start to the season, the move came as a surprise to some and was expected by others.
Duane Kuiper detailed a mixture of both emotions on the latest episode of the Giants Talk podcast, having kept a keen eye on the first-round pick’s development since he was taken second overall in the 2018 MLB Draft.
“Yes and no,” Kuiper told NBC Sports Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic when asked if he was surprised by Bart’s demotion.
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The Giants’ longtime play-by-play announcer said on one hand, it was a bit of a shock because of the “long rope” Bart was granted by the organization to try and figure out his swing.
“... I think [the Giants] felt like they did give him a long rope to figure it out,” Kuiper said. “I thought it might be a little bit longer.”
But, Bart’s numbers before he was sent down did little to argue his case. While he has been great defensively behind the plate, when in the batter’s box he had just two hits in his last 25 at-bats with 15 strikeouts. His average had dropped to .156 while striking out in 45.4 percent of his plate appearances on the season.
Among all players with at least 100 PA, Bart’s strikeout percentage was the highest in the league when he was demoted, per FanGraphs.
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That simply wasn’t enough to remain on the Giants’ roster, Kuiper said.
“The other part is I’m not surprised,” Kuiper told Pavlovic. “Because I mean, in the end, Alex, you have to produce … This is the big leagues. You can’t just be great at one part of the game, and Joey Bart was not showing any signs that he was going to hit the ball out of the park.
“I mean, he did have four home runs, but those came early. He needs minor league at-bats, and he needs to figure it out. He’s got the talent.”
As the heir apparent to Giants legend Buster Posey, the team and fans alike had high expectations for Bart when he was taken in the first round of the draft four years ago. Kuiper thinks that level of pressure might have had an impact on Bart’s performance at the plate.
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“So I’m not surprised, but I am a little bit surprised,” he said. “I want him to do well. I want to see him back here. He works hard … Sometimes it’s hard being the No. 1 pick, because there’s such a large focus on you to be good when you’re the No. 1 pick.
“And I think he felt a little bit of that pressure.”
As Bart works on his swing at the Triple-A level, Curt Casali and the newly-acquired Austin Wynns will continue to try and provide productivity from the catcher position.
With a key series against the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers beginning Friday, the Giants will need all the hits they can get.