Giants select C Joey Bart with their first round selection

The San Francisco Giants selected catcher Joey Bart (Georgia Tech) with the second overall selection in the 2018 First-Year Player Draft, the club announced tonight.

June 5th, 2018

San Francisco, Calif. - The San Francisco Giants selected catcher Joey Bart (Georgia Tech) with the second overall selection in the 2018 First-Year Player Draft, the club announced tonight.
The 6-foot-3, 225-pounder is the highest draft selection the Giants have made since they picked first baseman Will Clark out of Mississippi State University with the second overall pick in 1985. This marks the first time the Giants have selected a catcher with their top pick since they drafted Buster Posey fifth overall in the 2008 First-Year Player Draft.
In 2018, Bart led the ACC in batting average (.359), finished second in slugging percentage (.632) and hits (79) and finished in the top 10 in home runs (16), runs scored (55), and on-base percentage (.471). Defensively, he had a career-best .992 fielding percentage and only two passed balls, which were tied for lowest among ACC starting catchers.
At the conclusion of the regular season, he was named the ACC Player of the Year--the first Georgia Tech player to win it since Mark Texeira in 2000. He was also named a first team All-American, the ACC Defensive Player of the Year, and he was an all-ACC first team selection. With winners still to be announced, Bart is a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award, the Dick Howser Trophy and the Johnny Bench Award.
In his sophomore season in 2017, Bart led the Yellow Jackets in home runs (13) and RBI (43). He earned College Baseball Player of the Week and ACC Player of the Week awards on March 6 and received national recognition as a Johnny Bench Award semifinalist.
Bart enrolled at Georgia Tech in 2016 and was named to the ACC All-Freshman Team after batting .299 with 10 doubles and 31 RBI.
As the second selection, Bart is the earliest Yellow Jacket to be drafted. Previously, pitcher Kevin Brown, who was drafted fourth overall by the Texas Rangers in 1986, held that distinction. Bart joins Brown, Jason Varitek (ninth), Texeira (fifth), and Matt Weiters (fifth) as the only Georgia Tech players to be drafted in the top 10.
Bart was drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays in 27th round of the 2015 Draft out of Buford High School in Georgia but chose to attend Georgia Tech. He remains Buford's all-time leader in hits, RBI and runs scored. His father, Thomas Bart, played baseball at the University of Miami and Penn State University. His brother Mikey played defensive end for the University of North Carolina.
2018 MLB FIRST-YEAR DRAFT SCHEDULE
Tonight's portion of the draft included only the first round, Competitve Balance Round A, the second round and Competitive Balance Round B...the draft will resume tomorrow beginning at 10 a.m. PT with rounds 3 through 10, and then Wednesday, June 6 will cover rounds 11 through 40.
The Giants' 2018 selections are as follows:
2018 FIRST-YEAR PLAYER DRAFT
Rnd1, #2: Joey Bart C Georgia Tech 6-3 225 R/R 12/15/96 Scout: Luke Murton

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