The Braves announced they’ve traded reliever Hunter Stratton to the Pirates for catcher Joey Bart. Atlanta designated backup catcher Sandy León for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster. The Braves had designated Stratton for assignment yesterday. He’ll replace Bart on Pittsburgh’s 40-man but won’t join the MLB team, as the Bucs optioned him to Triple-A Indianapolis.
Bart is on the 10-day injured list working back from an infection in his left foot. He hasn’t played an MLB game since May 9 but has been on a minor league rehab assignment for the past week. Atlanta will presumably activate him directly onto the big league roster, as they optioned third catcher Jair Camargo back to Triple-A Gwinnett this afternoon.
It’s a homecoming for the 29-year-old Bart, who grew up less than an hour from Atlanta and played his college ball at Georgia Tech. He was part of a run of high-end catchers for the Yellow Jackets over the past couple decades, spanning from Matt Wieters to potential #1 overall pick Vahn Lackey. Bart went second overall to the Giants in 2018, making him the highest drafted player in school history to date.
The draft pedigree certainly makes him the more well known of the two players in today’s trade. Bart hasn’t developed into the franchise backstop many scouts expected, however. He hit .219/.288/.335 over parts of four seasons in San Francisco. Between that lackluster production and Patrick Bailey’s emergence, the Giants traded him to Pittsburgh at the beginning of the 2024 season.
More to come.
