Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
As Gabe Kapler does often with these comparisons, he offered cautions, verbal asterisks. No, he is not comparing Joey Bart to a catcher who will be “a Hall of Famer.”
And yet, there was one great catcher who came to mind when the Giants manager watched Joey Bart debut Thursday. You might have heard of him.
“I’m not saying that Joey is going to be Buster,” Kapler said after the Giants’ 10-5 win over the Angels at Oracle Park, “but a lot of the calmness and relaxed nature that Buster brings to the ballpark every day, Joey kind of brings some of that as well.”
If Giants fans and brass are wide-eyed about the star prospect who’s now a major leaguer, Bart is a good deal less wide-eyed. He caught his first big-league game without much flare. He blistered a double at 109.5 mph off the bat, the fourth hardest-hit ball of the Giants’ season, and did not accompany the moment with a fist pump or smile.
“I wasn’t really stressed about getting a hit,” said Bart, whose first major league hit came on a 1-for-4-with-a-hit-by-pitch day. “I knew I just got to keep going up there and try and make good selections and just do what I do and try to hit the ball hard.”
He calmly caught five Giants pitchers, guys he hasn’t worked with at best in more than a month, and handled them all without issue, even trying to settle a Shaun Anderson who couldn’t find the zone.
Mauricio Dubon, upon making his Giants debut last year, looked around the infield and took a moment, soaking in the fact he was playing alongside Evan Longoria, Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt. Usually debuting major leaguers have those eyes opened at one point or another.
It didn’t much happen for Bart, he said, though his father wanted him to do some looking around.
“My dad was telling me Albert Pujols is out there, Mike Trout is out there,” said Bart, who added that Trout offered him a congratulations. “So it was cool seeing guys that I’ve been watching since I was very young play baseball and share that field with them. But not necessarily any moment [of reflection] in particular.”
That is the rep that he came with and the rep he has begun to forge at the major league level. He has been waiting for this moment for 23 years. More specifically, he has been waiting for this moment since March, when he quickly established he is the best catcher in the Giants organization, and had to wait for Aug. 20 to get his chance.
There were no signs of frustration. There were no signs of nerves.
“I thought he did a really good job of staying calm and professional and I thought the at-bat quality was good,” said Kapler, who added Bart’s confidence is “kind of understated. And it’s relaxed. It doesn’t feel especially tense in any part of his game. And I think that’s going to serve him well as he makes this transition.”
Kevin Gausman gave him credit, saying he believed he stole some strikes and called a solid game.
And no, Gausman said, he didn’t sense any nerves.
“He seemed like normal, laid-back Joey,” was Brandon Crawford’s thought.
Which, at least in persona, is not far from Buster Posey.
Crawford over Zoom on 100 home runs: “It’s really cool. It’s something I never really dreamed of doing in the major leagues, being able to hit 100 homers. It’s pretty cool. It definitely adds to how special the win was tonight.”
Joe Maddon told reporters there is “a level of accountability” in pitching Shaun Anderson against Mike Trout after two of Anderson’s pitches nearly beaned Trout on Tuesday. Two days later, Anderson threw a very high, slightly inside pitch that Trout ducked at and both sides were warned.
Kapler declined to comment on Maddon’s complaint.
The Giants will throw Logan Webb, Tyler Anderson and Trevor Cahill, in that order, against the Diamondbacks in a series that begins Friday.