Pirates Make Pair of Moves at Catcher
PITTSBURGH -- Sunday night was the site of some roster movement on the catching front for the Pittsburgh Pirates following an injury to their starter at the position.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Andrew Destin reported that the Pirates will place Joey Bart on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring injury. He left during the team's win over the Reds on Sunday after hitting the first-base bag awkwardly on an RBI groundout in the first inning.
Bart was acquired via trade from the San Francisco Giants on April 2 for right-handed pitcher Austin Strickland. The backstop cracked the team's Opening Day roster, though he fell behind Patrick Bailey and Tom Murphy on the depth chart and was designated for assignment on March 31.
The Giants selected Bart with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2018 MLB draft, forseeing a future where he took over as the heir apparent to franchise legend Buster Posey.
The Georgia Tech product quickly became one of the top prospects in the game, ranking as at least a top-75 farmhand every year from 2019 through 2022 by Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus and MLB Pipeline.
Bart made his long-awaited big-league debut during the shortened 2020 campaign, hitting .233/.288/.320 over 33 games. He played in 129 more contests across the following three seasons, but he never truly established himself as San Francisco's starting catcher and eventually fell out of favor with the organization.
Bart's been a revelation since arriving in Pittsburgh, however, slashing .273/.349/.500 with 12 home runs and 38 RBIs in 62 games and 218 plate appearances this year. The 27-year-old will be arbitration-eligible for the first time this offseason and is under team control through 2027.
Pittsburgh recalled fellow backstop Henry Davis from Triple-A Indianapolis to take his place on the active roster.
The former No. 1 overall pick out of Louisville in 2021, Davis has long been viewed as a cornerstone piece of the Pirates' future, though his play in the majors thus far has threatened that notion.
The 24-year-old was viewed as a near-consensus top-100 prospect ahead of the '22 and '23 campaigns and largely lived up to the hype in the minors, earning him his first call-up on June 18 last season. In 62 games, a majority of which came in right field, Davis batted .213/.302/.351 with seven home runs and 24 RBIs.
He made Pittsburgh's Opening Day roster in 2024 as the starter behind the plate, though he was demoted to Triple-A on May 5 once Yasmani Grandal was activated off the injured list.
Davis last appeared for the Pirates on June 14 and has hit .153/.267/.235 on the year. He's excelled with Indianapolis to a tune of a .956 OPS, however, and will have an opportunity to bounce back with the big-league club over the final month with Bart on the mend.
