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From March 23-25 in 2018, at NC State’s Doak Field, there were surely some Giants scouts watching keenly. Or perhaps future Giant scouts, as amateur scouting director Michael Holmes was then with Oakland.
On the field for a series in which NC State took two of three from Georgia Tech were three future promising Giants farmhands: Joey Bart, Will Wilson and Wednesday’s first-round pick, Patrick Bailey.
The Giants grabbed Bart with the No. 2 pick in that year’s draft. The following year, they considered Wilson in the first round but opted for Hunter Bishop instead. This year, Bailey was the call, stepping into an organization that already has Bart, his weekend catching foe now a potential future platoon partner.
“We played a home series my freshman year against Georgia Tech and I remember playing against Joey. I think he tore us up that weekend,” Bailey said on “Murph & Mac” on Thursday morning, his first hit on the airwaves.
The stats may not tell the whole story: Bart went 3-for-13 over that weekend with a double and two RBIs. Bailey, who actually went 4-for-10 that series, remembered being frustrated by the star opposite him.
“Whatever [our pitching coach] was calling wasn’t working,” Bailey said.
The two will have a more formal meeting soon, provided the baseball season actually gets underway.
