At 10:35 a.m., before taking some quick batting practice, Joey Bart sat in the corner of the Giants’ dugout next to the wall of helmets. Unbothered, he looked out at the field and fidgeted with a bat.
He took the moment to soak it in, to find some peace of mind from a mostly empty ballpark — before all the standing ovations, Take Me Out To The Ballgames and Captain’s boats in tow. Plus, he was just waiting for his turn in batting practice.
Soon after, he caught a quick warmup bullpen session from Logan Webb, his counterpart on the mound. On their way from the pen to the mound, they were on the same page, almost to a telepathic point.
“I kind of grabbed him before the game, and it was like, ‘Hey, let’s do something special.,” Webb said.
Bart was thinking the exact same thing.
“Being able to try to dial it up and say, ‘Hey man, let’s do this for a while together, because that’d be fun.’ And that’s kind of what he told me, and I was like let’s do it man, let’s have fun,” Bart said.
In the Giants’ thrilling 6-5 extra-innings win, Webb extended his unbeaten streak to 23 — spanning back to last Cinco de Mayo. Bart drilled his first career home run and scored the team’s first run of the season.
Somewhat lost in the chaos left by a bullpen implosion and Austin Slater’s walk-off, Webb and Bart provided an exciting glimpse into the franchise’s future. And though the Posey-Lincecum or Posey-Bumgarner comparisons are premature, the 25-year-old duo is the latest homegrown Opening Day battery that’s become a staple of the Giants franchise.
“They both definitely have the potential to play together for a long time,” veteran shortstop Brandon Crawford said. “Be batterymates for a long time. They both can be really good for this franchise.”
Crawford and his co-Brandon at first base have teased Bart for months. In 117 big league plate appearances before Friday, Bart had never hit a home run. The specific quips are unclear, but a 6-foot-2, 230-pound linebacker masquerading as an elite catching prospect becomes and easy target with that track record.
Bart put all the jabs to rest in the fifth inning when he pulled a home run 414 feet into the left field stands. He was expecting a Sandy Alcantara fastball, but instead sat on a mistake hanging slider.
Bart’s first MLB home run left his bat at 108.9 mph and gave San Francisco a 3-0 lead. The ball’s safely secured — in his mom’s pocket — after a team official tracked down the fan who caught it and traded a jersey and a bat for the souvenir.
Behind the plate, Bart looked nothing like the overwhelmed fielder he was in 2020. Belt, chirps now retired, said he looked like a big leaguer out there. Veteran backup Curt Casali said Bart “controlled the staff well” and praised his pace.
“Not an easy thing to be able to hone in the nerves and the excitement,” Casali told KNBR.
It helps when you’re catching Webb, who specializes in command. Webb induced weak contact all day, carving up the Marlins for six innings of one-run ball. Though Gabe Kapler said Webb’s slider wasn’t at its best, he went to the sinker-slider well to shut down Miami.
Webb only fanned three Marlins, but batters hardly ever squared him up. Twelve of Webb’s 15 put-outs stayed on the ground, and nine of those balls traveled less than 15 feet from home plate.
In the clubhouse postgame, Bart and Webb remained in lockstep. When Bart lauded the starter’s three-pitch arsenal in front of a scrum of about 15 reporters and several cameras, Webb walked by with a quick “Thanks, Joey.”
The two seem comfortable in their own skin — Webb the ascendant ace picking up where he left off and Bart the waiting-in-the-wings catcher ready to prove himself.
Losing Buster Posey hurts the Giants, no doubt. But from Bart’s standpoint, there can be solace in finally being handed the keys to the Ferrari. It’s possible the future Hall of Famer’s retirement was the best thing that could’ve happened for Bart’s development — and psyche.
“No one’s ever going to be Buster Posey,” Webb said. “And that’s something I hope doesn’t get put on him. He’s going to be Joey Bart, and it’s going to be very special. That’s something we all kind of preach and talk about. I think he feels that way now. I think this was the first spring he finally got a chance — when you’ve got a guy like that in front of you, it’s hard to think about that.”
Opening Day is just one of 162, but Gabe Kapler said the Giants treat it like it’s a bit more special. It does have a more sentimental meaning, especially for guys experiencing it for the first time like Bart.
If things go according to plan, Webb and Bart will be at the center of plenty more to come. Webb and Bart could make Friday not one of 162, but the start of an annual tradition.
