Ever since the Giants selected Joey Bart with the No. 2 pick in the 2018 MLB Draft, people started counting down the days until he would replace Buster Posey at catcher in San Francisco. An impressive start to Bart's minor league career and two straight down years for Posey only has ramped up those conversations.
Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow, however, wants you to slow down for a second.
"Now with [Bart] coming to the big leagues -- if you're gonna bring him to the big leagues -- it's not to be a backup catcher," Krukow said Tuesday on KNBR's "Murph & Mac Show." "It's gonna be to play, and that window hasn't quite opened for him yet. The way Buster Posey has looked this year, to me he looks rejuvenated. His swing looks pretty good, he's feeling better, he's catching more innings early on in spring than he has the last several years. That's gonna be a big story.
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"If something happens to him where he gets injured, you're gonna see Joey Bart. But bringing Joey Bart up to sit on the bench, that's not gonna happen."
Posey, who turns 33 years old later this month, is off to a strong start this spring. He is fully healthy for the first time in years and it's showing. The veteran catcher is batting .357 with one homer, four RBI and a .971 OPS.
But Bart has opened eyes once again this spring. The top prospect is batting .545 (6-for-11) in big league camp and homered in his first game of the spring.
As he displayed with that solo shot, Bart has impressive opposite-field power. That's a trait that jumped out to Krukow right away when he first saw him, but he believes Bart could have trouble with velocity on the inner-half of the plate right now.
"When I first saw him, I thought this guy's a natural low-batt hitter, middle-away guy," Krukow said. "He's got a little length in his swing. He's gonna take a while to learn how to pitch inside, because they're going to pitch him inside. And what did we see last year? Well, they did pitch him inside. He got hit twice, broke his hand twice.
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"I think a lot of that is him having to learn how to deal with how they're gonna pitch him in. That's gonna take some time."
Bart has a free swing and likes to extend his arms from his 6-foot-3 frame, giving him the ability to blast balls the other way. When facing higher velocity, though, he'll have to show he can stay inside the ball and turn on heaters at the next level.
[RELATED: How Giants' youngsters prompted Posey to get flip phone]
Bart's time is coming. He'll likely start the season in Triple-A Sacramento and continue to develop at the plate and behind the dish. Posey had 631 minor league at-bats before being called up in 2010. Bart is at 517.
Do the math. Your patience to see the exciting prospect won't be tested too much longer.