© Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
On Wednesday, San Francisco Giants insider Andrew Baggarly hopped on with Tolbert & Lund to talk all things Giants baseball, in this early 2019 campaign. Baggarly gave us an update on the progression of Giants first round draft pick Joey Bart, as well as a funny anecdote about a certain Giants infielder-turned-outfielder.
There is a lot of anticipation and excitement from the Giants fanbase surrounding Joey Bart, and while fans may hope he can bring some life and young energy to the roster, Baggarly thinks we may have to wait just a bit longer.
“San Jose is about to have their home opener,” Baggarly said, “and I would not delay going out to see Joey Bart is San Jose, buying a ticket and seeing him up close. I don’t know if he’s going to be there more than a couple months; we’ll see if he gets moved up to Double-A or even to Triple-A. I don’t know if they’re going to have him make his major league debut this year…we don’t think the Giants will be contending in September, but you never know.
“I do think they’re going to be open minded to letting him move as fast as he shows he’s ready, and I do think that pushing guys to the big-leagues faster and reducing the development curve is becoming a bigger and bigger priority for front offices around baseball.”
As the Giants wait for Bart, their eyes are turned to the present. Despite the doldrums of this first home stand, one of the most unexpected things to come out of it was Brandon Belt recording his fourth career outfield assist. Baggarly said the only person that wasn’t surprised about it was Belt himself, explaining that he thinks Belt could even see himself playing in centerfield someday.
“(Belt) would probably say he could do it, and he’d also probably say that if you gave him a year he could probably win a Gold Glove out there,” Baggarly joked. “I don’t know if we want to see that, but for a guy getting his fourth outfield assist, he was pretty darn proud of himself, but this is also the guy who will tell you he could probably beat Michael Phelps in a 500-freestyle.”
Baggarly decided to share a conversation with Belt he had from a couple seasons ago.
“When the Olympics were going on and I went around the clubhouse, I said ‘which of your teammates could be on an Olympic team, and what team would it be and why?’… Brandon Belt is like, ‘I could be in all of ’em. Put me in the decathlon.’”
To hear the entire interview, click HERE: