© Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
As the opening rounds of the 2018 MLB draft took place Monday afternoon, Madison Bumgarner watched the first round on the jumbotron at AT&T Park, while he chatted with Duane Kuiper.
Kuiper joined Murph & Mac on Tuesday morning, and said as the organization’s No. 2 pick was next up, and everyone in and around the organization had their eyes on catcher Joey Bart out of Georgia Tech, Bumgarner cracked a joke about his soon-to-be teammate.
“They were about to announce who the Giants were going to pick,” Kuiper said. “And I leaned over to Bum and I said, ‘that right there is the only good thing that happened about last year.’ And he looked at me and he goes, ‘Yeah, you’ve got that right.’ And then he laughed and he said, ‘You know what I wish that kid would say?’ I said, ‘What’s that Bum?’ He said, ‘I wish that kid said it was time for Posey to play first.’
“So his sense of humor is remarkable and he made us laugh, because it would’ve been quite funny if the kid would’ve said that, but I don’t think that was going to happen.”
While the highly coveted Bart didn’t spend his first day with the Giants calling out the catcher who helped the organization to three World Series championships, he still brings a lot to the table as a 6’3, 220 lbs power-hitter. In this past season with Georgia Tech, Bart batted .367 with 16 HR and 38 RBI in 56 games.
The new member of the Giant’s organization didn’t go unnoticed by Posey as well, Kuiper notes.
“Posey was very thoughtful when asked about the kid. He did a lot of congratulating to the family because it is a big day for anyone that is drafted.” Kuiper said. “Whether it is the 1st or 50th round.”
Kuiper doesn’t think Bart will be up tomorrow playing, and there is no question about the value of Posey. However, with the Giants drafting what they hope will be their catcher of the future, Kuiper addressed how Posey used this moment to show how secure he is in whatever he does while giving a positive welcome to the guy he will mentor the next few years.
“I see it similar to Aaron Rogers when he had to sit behind Brett Favre for 2-3 years.” Kuiper said. “It didn’t turn out too bad for Aaron Rogers. You can learn a lot. So we will see what happens with the kid, but I can assure you Buster Posey does not have one issue at all.”
Listen to the full interview below. To hear Kuip on Bumgarner, start from 12:20.