Bart named Eastern League Player of the Week
RICHMOND, Va. - Richmond Flying Squirrels catcher Joey Bart has been named the Eastern League Player of the Week for Aug. 26-Sept. 2, the league announced on Tuesday afternoon.
RICHMOND, Va. - Richmond Flying Squirrels catcher
Over his final seven games of the season, Bart hit .538 (14-for-26) with a home run, four doubles, one triple, six RBIs and scored five runs. His surge helped the Flying Squirrels win seven of their final eight games of the year.
Rated by MLB.com and Baseball America as the San Francisco Giants' No. 1 prospect, Bart began the week by matching a career high with four hits on Monday in a 7-6 Flying Squirrels win at Erie. As Richmond completed a four-game sweep with a 9-5 win at UPMC Park on Thursday, Bart again collected four hits, adding a homer, a double and two RBIs.
.@JBart9GT picks up his fourth hit of the game, his second four-hit night of this series pic.twitter.com/Pj1pYoVlIz
— Richmond Flying Squirrels (@GoSquirrels) August 30, 2019
Bart picked up two hits on Saturday against the Bowie Baysox at The Diamond, including a two-run, walk-off double in the bottom of the tenth to give the Flying Squirrels a 3-2 win. He concluded his season on Sunday night going 2-for-4 with a double, a triple and an RBI in a 2-1 win.
Send us home, Joey Bart pic.twitter.com/8DI5dsYh97
— Richmond Flying Squirrels (@GoSquirrels) September 1, 2019
For the week, Bart led the Eastern League in batting average (.538), hits (14), on-base percentage (.571), slugging percentage (.885) and OPS (1.456). He also ranked second in total bases (23), tied for fourth in doubles (4), tied for fifth in runs scored (5) and tied for sixth in RBIs (6).
The second-overall selection in the 2018 MLB Draft, Bart was promoted to Double-A Richmond on August 9. He played 22 games with the Flying Squirrels, batting .316 with four homers, four doubles and 11 RBIs. Along with his 57 games played for A-Adv. San Jose, Bart finished his first full professional season with a .278 batting average, 12 homers and 37 RBIs.
GONE.@JBart9GT goes oppo for a two-run homer
— Richmond Flying Squirrels (@GoSquirrels) August 30, 2019
We've got a 4-0 lead in the 5th in Erie pic.twitter.com/btuSn9wZGl
In his final 13 games of the year dating back to Aug. 19, Bart hit .400 (20-for-50) with three home runs, four doubles and eight RBIs. That stretch raised his Double-A batting average from .172 to .319.
The selection marks the third Player of the Week award for Bart in his professional career. He was also named the Northwest League Player of the Week on July 16, 2018 with Salem-Kaizer and the California League Player of the Week with San Jose on July 29, 2019.
Bart is the fifth Richmond player this season selected for a weekly Eastern League award.
The Flying Squirrels had the most Eastern League Player of the Week selections in the circuit this season with four.