Ron Holman-Visalia
Joey Bart has pressed in the past, an elusive goal dancing in front of him that he could not seem to track down.
The stakes were different — replace the big-league Giants with Team USA. The minor leagues with Georgia Tech. The 23-year-old was a teenager, a sophomore, and an “uptight” one.
“I remember the pressure I put on myself. Moving on down the stretch of that year, I put a lot of pressure on myself, and that’s something I really wanted to achieve,” Bart said over Zoom on Thursday from Oracle Park, his new home, before he faced off with the Angels. “It didn’t work out for me. I didn’t end up making the team.
“I think that experience has really helped me be patient and understand my time’s going to come. And when it is here, I’m going to make the most of it.”
Those are Bart’s plans now that he’s a big leaguer, the call coming Wednesday night from Farhan Zaidi, Scott Harris and Gabe Kapler. It was late, the star catching prospect getting ready for bed.
He would be forgiven if he got to the park a little under-rested.
“I was shaking for it seems like 30 minutes and I couldn’t stop shaking,” the 2018 second-overall pick said.
The Giants have preached progress throughout his stay at Sacramento, signaling they wanted to see more from him before (starting his major league clock by) calling him up (despite less-than-spectacular results from the big-league catchers).
Bart said he felt ready this spring training in Scottsdale, but does feel he has improved.
“I think my game has definitely grown from the spring training to the summer camp to Sacramento,” said the Buford, Ga., native, calling out his hometown and saying he’ll be the first major leaguer from there. “Definitely growing and learning more on the defensive side of the game as well as making some tweaks with what I’m doing at the plate.”
Bart only has had 22 games of upper-minors experience, all with Double-A Richmond at the end of last season. But he has impressed everywhere, looking like the best catcher in the organization at every turn this year. His new big-league teammates have softly campaigned for his call-up, many shouting out his talent and saying he looks ready. Fans were loud. Media was loud.
Bart, although he said he appreciated his teammates’ compliments, was quiet.
“You can either take it one way or another,” Bart said of his time in Sacramento. “You can either look at it as an opportunity or you can put your head down.”
In the past few weeks, he’s done some chart work with farm director Kyle Haines, the two going over scouting reports as if he were about to catch a big-league game. That will now happen, Bart working with Kevin Gausman in Game One.
In the past 12 hours, he got a text from Buster Posey, a congratulations from afar.
“Meant a lot to me,” Bart said. “Unbelievable guy.”
In the next days, he will be a major leaguer. He had to prepare for Mike Trout and now will test his hand at facing real, live, top-shelf pitching.
He did not know if it was going to happen, although he seemed to take it more in stride than Giants fans.
“Everyone wants to play in the major leagues. I knew I was going to have an opportunity, I didn’t know if it was going to be this year, hopefully, next year, I didn’t know when,” Bart said. “But I just knew that every day I had to come in and bring it and wear the right face and bring energy.”
Which is now what he brings a team that has been desperate for him.