Hops Play Salem-Keizer Top Catching Prospect This Weekend

From Hillsboro Hops: San Francisco Giants prospect Joey Bart, the second-overall pick in the 2018 First-Year Player Draft, is scheduled to play at Ron Tonkin Field against the Hillsboro Hops during the season’s final series. Salem-Keizer visits Hillsboro Saturday through Monday.

Bart, one of the top catching prospects in all of baseball, has been with the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes since Independence Day, and with the Volcanoes in search of a playoff spot, a late-season roster move is unlikely.

Bart signed for a $7,025,000 bonus — the largest up-front bonus for a position player in baseball history — after his junior year at Georgia Tech. He is currently hitting .305 and is second in the Northwest League with 11 home runs. When he has been behind the plate, 42% of attempted base-stealers (15 of 36) have been thrown out.

MLBpipeline.com has tabbed Bart as the Giants’ top prospect.

Bart was drafted second behind Auburn pitcher Casey Mize (Detroit), after hitting .359 with 16 home runs for Georgia Tech in 2018. He is the highest-drafted prospect to play in the Northwest League since number-one-overall pick Dansby Swanson played for Hillsboro in 2015; Swanson was in the major leagues the following season.

Saturday’s game begins at 7:05PM, and there are postgame fireworks. Sunday’s game is at 4:05PM, and Monday’s Labor Day game — the first morning game in Ron Tonkin Field history — begins at 11:05AM.

Salem-Keizer is attempting to become Hillsboro’s opponent in the first round of the Northwest League playoffs.

The Hillsboro Hops won both halves in the Northwest League’s South Division, and Hillsboro currently has the second-best winning percentage in all of baseball (Class A and above), trailing only the Boston Red Sox.

Image via Travis Loose/Patch