440 on-base percentage in exhibition games. Instead, the Giants hoped they would push one another in amicable competition to win playing time. There wasn’t any question in the spring that the rookie and the veteran would open the season behind the plate.
If you were to participate in a Gabe Kapler drinking game for oft-repeated phrases in spring training, “There’s some swing-and-miss in Joey’s game” would’ve put you under the table.īart and Casali are the only catchers on the 40-man roster, so it’s not as if the Giants can ponder a roster move. The Giants tried to prepare their fans for that eventuality, too. Giants officials and coaches knew that strikeouts would be a part of the bargain when they replaced Buster Posey with Bart, whom a previous administration had selected second in the 2018 draft. But since then, he’s 0-for-15 and has struck out nine times. A three-hit game on April 29 might have represented a glimmer of hope. This is something that Joey is capable of. This is not to take anything away from anybody, obviously, but you can see how valuable it is to have very competitive at-bats at the bottom of the lineup to turn the lineup over. “Let me take a step back and say this the right way.
“We can see what a difference a successful at-bat looks like …” said Giants manager Gabe Kapler, interrupting his thought in the middle of his postgame interview. But by not talking about it following Tuesday night’s game, they said plenty. The Giants really, really, really don’t want to talk about Joey Bart’s strikeouts. Because it’s not possible to discuss a productive offensive game from Casali without making an oblique reference to the other catcher on the roster - the one whose 46.4 percent strikeout rate is the highest among all major leaguers with at least 50 plate appearances. The Giants relied on an ensemble effort to tally multi-run rallies in three separate innings, and their veteran catcher did as much as anyone to keep the line moving.Īaaaaand now for the rest of the story. He ended the night at a pretty presentable. 189 average - the scoreboard equivalent of a full-length mirror when you’re wearing a shirt that makes you feel pudgy. He walked with the bases loaded to drive in another run. He hit a two-run single in the second inning. He caught a quality start from Alex Wood in the Giants’ 9-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies. Curt Casali had a productive day at the office.
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