Joey Bart has become a forgotten man since the emergence of Patrick Bailey, but Farhan Zaidi still believes he’s an important part of the Giants’ immediate future.
San Francisco’s president of baseball operations said as much during an interview with Tolbert & Copes on Thursday, explaining that the former No. 2 overall pick will be an important depth piece should the Giants make the playoffs.
“One of the biggest things is making sure you have enough depth where you don’t get caught flat-footed at an important position,” Zaidi said. “That’s why Joey Bart is one of the most important players in the organization right now. For us, we know we need three catchers to get through the rest of the season. He’s still very much a consideration for the playoff roster regardless of how he plays through the season at the major league level. Those are the kind of things that you start thinking about more.”
Zaidi also said that there was interest around the league for Bart at the trade deadline, but that conversations didn’t get far because of how the organization values him.
“He’s still a guy that interests teams because of the pedigree and the power,” Zaidi said. “As much as anything, he was one of the best defensive catchers in baseball when he was up earlier this season. We know how valuable defense is.
“He’s really valuable to us. It’s really important that we have catching in house that has familiarity with our pitchers and feel like we’re set at that position, so those conversations didn’t get very far.”
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