{"id":109791,"date":"2025-11-21T20:39:42","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T01:39:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=109791"},"modified":"2025-11-21T20:39:42","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T01:39:42","slug":"pirates-tender-contract-catcher-joey-bart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/11\/21\/pirates-tender-contract-catcher-joey-bart\/","title":{"rendered":"Pirates Tender Contract to Catcher Despite Off Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Pittsburgh Pirates have tendered a contract to catcher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bartjo01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-11-21_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joey Bart<\/a> for 2026 despite his regression in 2025. This, judging by his absence from MLB.com\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/news\/non-tendered-mlb-free-agents-2025-2026\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">complete non-tendered player list<\/a>. With MLB Trade Rumors predicting a $2.7 million salary for 2026, there was <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/10\/10\/pirates-face-decision-on-arbitration-eligible-catcher-joey-bart\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">speculation<\/a> that the Pirates would move on from Bart after a disappointing season.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_78764\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-78764\" style=\"width: 788px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-78764\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/07\/USATSI_23352217_168400885_lowres-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"788\" height=\"523\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/07\/USATSI_23352217_168400885_lowres-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/07\/USATSI_23352217_168400885_lowres-1024x679.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/07\/USATSI_23352217_168400885_lowres-768x509.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/07\/USATSI_23352217_168400885_lowres-1536x1018.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/07\/USATSI_23352217_168400885_lowres-2048x1358.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 788px) 100vw, 788px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-78764\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">May 22, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Jared Jones (37) and catcher Joey Bart (14) make their way in from the bullpen to play the San Francisco Giants at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Pirates Have Tendered Joey Bart for 2026<\/h2>\n<p>The Pirates <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/04\/03\/pirates-second-overall-pick\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">obtained<\/a> Bart, 28, early in the 2024 season from the San Francisco Giants in exchange for minor league pitcher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=strick000aus&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-11-21_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Austin Strickland<\/a> after Bart had been designated for assignment. Bart responded with the best season of his career, hitting .265\/.355\/.340, 13 HR, and 45 RBI in just 80 games. The right-handed hitter had the best slugging percentage and second-best on-base percentage (OBP) on the team. He appeared to have found a baseball home.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">First career grand slam for Joey Bart! \ud83d\udc4f <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/rCRUEkVkfB\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/rCRUEkVkfB<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Pirates\/status\/1793705809207251106?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 23, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>However, in 2025, Bart slipped and hit just .249\/.355\/.340, 4 HR, and 30 RBI in 93 games. Bart also spent time on the concussion injured list last season, which may have affected his play. He still had the best OBP on the team, but there was little else to recommend him. Behind the plate, he was charged with -3 Fielding Runs Above Average and -6 Defensive Runs Saved. Would-be base stealers were successful in 58 of 71 attempts against him. Furthermore, he gets poor marks as a pitch framer.<\/p>\n<h3>Competition and Depth at Catcher<\/h3>\n<p>Meanwhile, former first overall draft pick <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/d\/davishe01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-11-21_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Henry Davis<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/06\/12\/pirates-davis-deserves-to-play\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">emerged<\/a> as a strong defensive catcher in 2025, defying scouting reports that doubted his abilities behind the dish. Davis registered a \u201ccatcher\u2019s ERA\u201d of 2.87 as opposed to Bart\u2019s 4.73. Of course, Davis had the advantage of being the personal catcher of National League <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/11\/12\/mlb-announces-2025-cy-young-award-winners-skenes-skubal\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Cy Young Award winner<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/skenepa01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-11-21_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Paul Skenes<\/a>. But it\u2019s not as if the Pirates were sending <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/f\/faustch01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-11-21_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Charlie Faust<\/a> to the mound every time Skenes didn\u2019t pitch. With a staff that had the sixth-best ERA in the majors at 3.76, the difference was striking.<\/p>\n<p>The Pirates have some additional, albeit unproven, depth at catcher behind Bart and Davis in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=florera03,flores004raf&amp;search=Rafael+Flores&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-11-21_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rafael Flores<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/rodrien01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-11-21_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Endy Rodr\u00edguez<\/a>. Flores, obtained in the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/07\/31\/yankees-acquire-all-star-closer-daivid-bednar-pirates\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">deadline deal<\/a> for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bednada01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-11-21_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">David Bednar<\/a>, is expected to provide an instant offensive boost. Even so, the Pirates clearly weren\u2019t quite comfortable letting go of their only proven commodity as an offensive major league catcher in Bart. Davis posted a mere .167\/.234\/.278, 7 HR, and 22 RBI stat line in 2025. Flores and Rodr\u00edguez may need more time in the minors to develop as hitters.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, there were three occasions last season when Bart was used as a pinch-hitter for Davis. Managers can pay lip service to the notion of how much confidence they have in a player, but the tell-tale sign is who comes to bat when the game is on the line. By all accounts, Davis is a hard worker, but it\u2019s clear that at this point in Davis\u2019s career, manager <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/managers\/kellydo01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Don Kelly<\/a> prefers Bart\u2019s bat.<\/p>\n<h3>The Last Word<\/h3>\n<p>With the Pirates having tendered Bart, expect Bart and Davis to continue splitting playing time, with Davis serving as the exclusive catcher for Skenes. This doesn\u2019t necessarily mean that Flores or Rodr\u00edguez won\u2019t break spring training with the big club. Both saw action at first base for the Pirates last season. Rodr\u00edguez also has minor league experience in the outfield and at second base. Given their versatility, it\u2019s possible the Pirates could carry three catchers in 2026. If one of them develops as expected, Bart can always be dangled in as trade bait.<\/p>\n<p>None of the Pirates\u2019 other Friday tender\/non-tender decisions were unexpected. Non-tendered were outfielders <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/canaral01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-11-21_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alexander Canario<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/simonro01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ronny Sim\u00f3n<\/a> and pitchers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/h\/holdeco01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-11-21_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Colin Holderman<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/moretda01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-11-21_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dauri Moreta<\/a>. All four were designated for assignment on Tuesday. Non-tendering them was a mere formality. Their time with Pittsburgh is over.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Pittsburgh Pirates have tendered a contract to catcher Joey Bart for 2026 despite his regression in 2025. This, judging by his absence from MLB.com\u2019s complete non-tendered player list. With MLB Trade Rumors predicting a $2.7 million salary for 2026, there was speculation that the Pirates would move on from Bart after a disappointing season. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5010,"featured_media":102286,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,1071,35],"tags":[5062,5685,6380,6225,4875,5766,6371],"class_list":["post-109791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pirates","category-mlb","category-news","tag-alexander-canario","tag-colin-holderman","tag-dauri-moreta","tag-endy-rodriguez","tag-henry-davis","tag-joey-bart","tag-paul-skenes"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5010"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109791"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":109805,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109791\/revisions\/109805"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}