Minor League Fantasy Draft- Round One- Joey Bart

(Jared Ravich/MiLB.com)

Last year, I wrote about my various draft selections in my minor league fantasy draft and followed them throughout the season.
Now, I know that someone's fantasy sports team are as interesting to others as other people's little league teams or pictures of their kids or pets (General rule of thumb- those are all things to be passionate about when you are involved and no problems with that, but unless you are in that league, no one else really cares) and I won't bore you with my team in the season, etc ,but since I write about minor league baseball throughout the season, I do make an exception for my minor players because I think it's just fun to follow.

Last season, I lost a heartbreaking championship series that that literally came down to the final at-bat of the week on Sunday Night Baseball before I was defeated.
That loss meant I was picking 11th in the draft and I released six players to possess six picks in this year's draft.
There were a few players that I really liked, but I doubted that they would be available to me at 11.
I noted last year, with my 5th round pick of Atlanta's William Contreras, that the hardest positions to draft and develop players at are catcher and shortstop as young players often start at those positions and are moved to other spots for various reasons.

I was interested in one player more than most though for not only the above reason but because my catching position on my team could use an upgrade and this player would likely be fast-tracked to the big leagues faster than usual.
I talked to a team (Memphis Redbirds) picking at the top of the round to see the cost and the response was to flip first rounders would be a major league pitcher off my roster.
Given the choice of two, I chose Cleveland's Shane Bieber to trade and the deal was finished.

I quickly tabbed Joey Bart of the Giants to address the catching position.
Bart was the second overall choice last year in the draft out of Georgia Tech, where he hit .361 and 16 homers for the Yellow Jackets in 56 games, but was also named the ACC player of the year and the ACC defensive player of the year.
The latter is important because it means that Bart is skilled enough behind the plate that he'll stay there, where his bat is so much more valuable to the Giants and fantasy owners.
The 6'3 Bart played his 2018 minor season at short-season Salem-Keizer, where Bart hit .298 with 13 homers in 45 games with the Volcanoes.
Bart is noted to have 30 homer power potential and should stay behind the plate.
The main worry is this- Making contact and Bart could strike out a lot.
For my purposes, a strikeout is no different than any other type of out, so that's not an issue.
Bart's ceiling- He could develop into the best hitting catcher in the game, hitting .280 with 30 homers.
Bart's floor- He hits .230 with 15 homers with strong defense, which doesn't help me but would keep him in the lineup as the Giants everyday backstop,


Shane Bieber is a promising young pitcher, but I added him as a waiver claim, so as a result I had little invested in him and even though I think Bieber is going to have a nice season, the chance to add what could be an elite catcher should things work out perfectly made the cost reasonable and gamble worth taking.
It's a while before my second rounder comes up, but I'll offer some thoughts on him after the selection.