Are these two potential breakouts the real deal for the Pittsburgh Pirates?

Joey Bart

When Jason Delay hit the injured list, the Pirates made the move to acquire former first-round pick Joey Bart from the San Francisco Giants. The Giants DFA’d Bart early this season as Patrick Bailey, Tom Murphy, and former Pirates prospect Blake Sabol had all surpassed him on their depth chart. Despite being selected second overall in 2018, Bart certainly did not live up to his potential in San Francisco, as he turned in a poor .219/.288/.335 triple-slash, .279 wOBA, and 78 wRC+ through 503 plate appearances.

But in 69 plate appearances with the Pirates, he is hitting .267/.362/.517 with a .383 wOBA and 150 wRC+. Bart is hitting for power with a .250 isolated slugging percentage. Bart struggled to draw walks with San Francisco, as he drew ball four just 6.4% of the time, but now he’s up to 11.6%. While he’s still striking out at a below-average rate, his 27.5% K% in Pittsburgh is a massive improvement from 35.4% with the Giants.

There are a lot of things Bart is doing better in Pittsburgh compared to his time in San Francisco. He’s hitting the ball a lot harder. His exit velocity on the West Coast was just 87.4 MPH. It’s now up to 89.1 MPH. On top of making more hard contact, he’s making more quality contact, with an improved 9.8% barrel rate compared to 7.4% with the Giants. 

Additionally, Bart is not swinging outside the zone very frequently, sporting a 22.7% chase rate. His chase rate with the Giants was over 30%. While his whiff rate is only slightly better, he is making more in-zone contact. Bart has hit a ball in the zone 77.3% of the time. His career average is 73.4%, and the league average is 82%.

But there are still some things that are slightly concerning. Bart is swinging at breaking/off-speed stuff 35.9% of the time. This is a decent improvement, given he had a 41% rate with SF. His exit velocity is up slightly, but his barrel rate is down against non-fastball stuff.

So where does this leave Bart? I think asking him to keep hitting for a 150 wRC+ is a bit much. If he did put up a 150+ wRC+ and got semi-regular playing time with at least 300 plate appearances, it would only be the sixth time a catcher has achieved this feat since 2010, and that’s a really high bar to set, especially for a player who was viewed as a failure before landing on his feet in Pittsburgh.

But Bart still has some underlying numbers that point to a good road ahead. His .350 xwOBA is still well above average, as is his .469 xSLG%. Even if he settles in as more of a .230 batter with a .430-.450 SLG%, he’ll be more than good enough to provide the Pirates with a decent bat from behind the dish.