Joey Bart and the Pirates 40-man catching depth going into the 2025 season
Joey Bart is one of four catchers on the Pirates' 40-man roster currently
The Pirates’ offense struggled again in 2024 but got a pleasant surprise from Joey Bart, who they acquired from the San Francisco trade after he was designated for assignment.
Bart was the second overall pick in 2018, someone they had hoped would be the heir apparent to Buster Posey. He struggled to put things together, the Giants had Patrick Bailey, so they decided to move on.
This worked perfectly for the Pirates, as they were in the market for an extra catcher at the time.
In 80 games with the Pirates, Bart hit .265/.337/.462 with 13 home runs and 45 RBI while hitting in the middle of the order.
There are many things to like about his player card. The concern would be that his strong xwOBA was elevated by an elite mark against fastballs while he struggled against breaking and off-speed pitches.
Even with all that, Bart seems to be a comfortable option to go into 2025, getting the primary at-bats from behind the plate. The defense is a concern, but the hitting should be solid enough to keep him at the top of the depth chart unless someone takes a step forward.
His position might help Bart, as you aren’t expecting most catchers to play 120+ games behind the plate anymore, and he’s not likely to thrive doing so.
It’s after him to where there are many holes that can be picked when it comes to their depth.
Vying for the backup job is a former first-overall pick, a once-top 100 prospect, and a catcher who posted elite defensive metrics the last time he played in the majors.
In most cases, that’d be something to be excited about, but to date, there are a lot of holes you can poke into each of their games.
Henry Davis
The first overall pick back in 2021, Davis tore through the minors offensively but has struggled to find success in the majors with the bat.
Things seem to take an even further step back in 2024, as Davis couldn’t hang on to a spot in the majors, getting sent to Triple-A. In just 37 games in the majors last year, Davis posted a wRC+ of 30. Of hitters with at least 100 plate appearances, that was the seventh-worst wRC+ in all of baseball.
Davis actually made some pretty strong swing decisions, with a walk rate of 10.6% and only chasing out of the zone 24.4% of the time. Looking at those and his 71.3% zone swing rate (plus his 70.9% zone contact rate), he may be someone who could benefit from being a little more selective in the zone.
The other question with Davis is the defense. There was talk about whether he could handle the position at the next level despite his strong arm. While he posted a good pop time in the majors, it didn’t translate to throwing runners out.
He went 1-37, throwing out base runners in the minors in 2024.
Endy Rodriguez
During the 2022 season, Rodriguez climbed from High-A Greensboro to Triple-A Indianapolis. He made his major league debut the following year, and while he didn’t hit well, he graded out well defensively.
At the plate, Rodriguez hit .220/.284/.328 in 57 games but was in the 86th percentile in pop time and 79th in caught stealing, above average on Baseball Savant.
So, while Davis couldn’t capitalize on a plus pop time, Endy was.
The question is how much of the arm will be there now after he missed most of the 2024 season due to Tommy John surgery he had in the offseason. He returned to play and even caught some, but the sample size was incredibly small.
In an ideal scenario, Rodriguez is a perfect complement to Bart, who struggled defensively behind the plate. As Endy continues to adjust, they could even give Bart some added time off and DH him, getting both in the lineup.
He also hit righties far better than lefties, and that type of platoon split fits well with Bart. He still hit league average (101) against righties, but it was quite the wide split compared to southpaws (174).
Jason Delay
Delay had a solid 2023 season for the Pirates, putting up a 1.1 fWAR despite an 81 wRC+, mostly due to his pitch framing.
Spending most of the 2024 season exposed some of his defensive struggles, as framing is far less valuable in a place with the automated strike zone.
Without that, the fact that he struggled to control the running game stood out a bit more, as did his 93 wRC+ in Triple-A.
If you want to give Endy more time to get readjusted, you could send him to Triple-A and then perhaps have Delay over Davis.
That seems less likely since Delay still has options. He’ll be good for the competition in camp, but at this point, he’s 40-man roster depth.
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I tend to agree with your assessment. Some additional rambling per my usual:
1) I cringe every time Endy or Hank are listed as possible starters elsewhere. If they hit, then that bridge can be crossed and it becomes a real good problem. It is a bonus that Endy is very athletic and if the bench is depleted in some game, he can run out to a lot of positions and hold his own but not as a planned platoon starter.
2) Your stance on Delay is perfect. I know people like him, but he is realistically IMO a AAA catcher or a backup in MLB if your starter is peak Jason Kendall.
3) If Bart catches 90 games and DHs 30 or so, that leaves plenty of playing time for whoever is the backup to prove they belong in MLB. This of course is dependent on Bart hitting ateast 90% the level he did last year. No spring training performance should change that assumption.
4) To me the easy 'out of spring training' decision is Hank in MLB and Endy in AAA. That may not seem fair but Hank IMO really can't prove anything in AAA. He needs to prove he is not a AAAA hitter and you do that in MLB hopefully starting 2-3 times a week. Endy missed an entire year +. Of the two I think he benefits the most playing basically everyday in AAA (catching and DH) and actually could be slightly harmed playing only 2-3 times a week as he needs reps. To me this allows for the least risk (it is the BACKUP Catcher we are talking about not everyday) as well as allowing for some continued development.
One of those "really?" stats for me is that Bart and Grandal combined for nearly 3 WAR in 2024 and the 4th, 4th!, best offense in the league at the catcher position.
As much as I like the depth heading into 2025, this may actually be tough to match.