Posey's Opt-Out Could Benefit Patrick Bailey
The San Francisco Giants didn't include recent first round draft pick Patrick Bailey on their 60-man player pool so that he could play in a Major League game in 2020.
They did it to get the former NC State catcher some extra practice time with the team's coaching and player development staffs, and to learn from perennial all-star Buster Posey.
But now that Posey has opted out of the abbreviated season over COVID-19 concerns, the dynamic has changed.
Though it still unlikely that Bailey will appear in a regular season game, the chances of that happening improved considerably with Posey -- who forfeits approximately $8 million of his prorated salary for this season with his decision -- now out of the equation.
Unless the Giants make a trade in the two weeks that remain before the start of their July 23 opening game against the NL West favorite Los Angeles Dodgers, they will go into the season with no catchers on their 40-man roster.
Besides Bailey, the only other available catchers are 2018 first round pick Joey Bart, a former Georgia Tech star who has not played above the Double-A level and missed part of last season with two injuries, ande non-roster invitees Tyler Heineman, Rob Brantly and Chadwick Tromp.
Between them, the group has a total of 131 games of Major League experience.
Although Bailey's bat against Major League pitching would likely be a liability, his highly-touted defensive skills could land him in the lineup in the event of injuries Bart or one of the others.
“There is no question that when players opt out around the league, that means their teams, their managers and their players have to adjust,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said in a statement released by the team. “I think that’s very obvious, and just leaving that aside, I think because of what we’re up against right now, we are going to take a family-first approach to this. We will take it on as a responsibility to scramble as necessary.”
A switch-hitter from Kernersville, Bailey hit .296 with a team-leading six home runs and 20 RBI in 17 games for State before the 2020 college season was halted because of the coronavirus pandemic.
He was second on the Wolfpack with 20 runs scored and a .685 slugging percentage and 17 walks. Three of his home runs were grand slams, all of which came in an 11-day stretch while hitting homers from both sides of the plate in the same game for the second time in his career.
Bailey is the only player in program history to accomplish that feat once.
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