WASHINGTON D.C. — The best Giants prospect in years has had a setback in his first full professional season.
Catcher Joey Bart suffered a fractured second metacarpal on his left hand when he was hit by a pitch Monday night in San Jose. Giants manager Bruce Bochy said Bart will be in a cast for two weeks and likely will be sidelined for four to six weeks.
Bart, the top catching prospect in the minors, is off to a hot start in San Jose, posting a .882 OPS through 10 games. He has two homers and eight RBIs and has impressed with his defense behind the plate.
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“He was playing well,” Bochy said. “He’ll be back. You hate to see it, though. He’s going to miss some time and it’s a minor setback. You just hate to see it for the kid. He had a great spring and was off to a great start.”
Bart isn’t expected to return to action until late May or June, which will slow what looked to be a meteoric rise through the minors. There was a decent chance he would have been promoted to Double-A by then, and a September call-up was in play after Bart’s impressive spring. Bochy wouldn’t close the door on that possibility.
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“There’s a lot of baseball left,” he said. “He’ll have a lot of baseball left to be played.”