DETROIT -- Joey Bart didn’t expect it to take so long to return from a concussion after being clipped by a backswing, but 20 days after the injury, the Pirates catcher was back in the lineup Tuesday. His bat was missed, but you just can’t rush a head injury.
“At the end of the day, those are things you've got to be careful with, and leave it up to the doctors and the league and everybody,” Bart said. “Just glad I can get back out here on the field and get going."
Bart’s return was a plus for the Pirates in the long run, but he didn’t help much Tuesday. Pittsburgh jumped out to an early lead, but the bats sizzled out before Carmen Mlodzinski allowed a pair of homers late, resulting in a 7-3 loss to the Tigers at Comerica Park.
After Pittsburgh's 45th loss of the season, one eye almost has to look toward the future and how some of these players fit into the Pirates’ vision. On the offensive side, catcher might be the position most in need of clarity.
The Pirates came into this season with four catchers on the roster. Jason Delay has since been traded, leaving just the three most obvious candidates for the catcher of the future: Bart, Henry Davis and Endy Rodríguez. That trio might really just be a duo for the rest of 2025.
Rodríguez will receive a PRP injection this week and then rest for four weeks to try to quell his right elbow inflammation. After that, he’ll need to build back up before he goes on a rehab assignment, so there’s a chance he might not have enough days on the calendar to return. Given that he missed all of 2024 (save for a few Minor League games) and more than a month with a right index finger laceration, having only 57 plate appearances in 2025 would make this a very rough two seasons for Rodríguez’s development.
“[We’re] confident he’s going to get back as soon as he can,” assistant general manager Steve Sanders said Sunday on 93.7 The Fan. “As far as the year, I would never want to project that far out. We’re certainly not ruling anything out. Our goal and Endy’s goal is to get healthy and get back as soon as possible. Certainly hopeful that’s at some point this year, but ultimately, we’ll do whatever’s best for Endy.”
Being without Rodríguez means that Bart and Davis are going to take center stage. That division of labor might not be as clear-cut as it was at the start of the season, when Bart was the clear starter and either Rodríguez or Davis the backup.
Credit part of that to Davis, who has swung the bat better of late. He’s still a work in progress, but he slashed .213/.260/.468 with three home runs in the 14 games he played after Bart took the backswing to the head. Those results came with a caveat of 14 strikeouts over 51 plate appearances, but finally getting some consistent runway as a starter seemed to have positive effects on Davis’ game.
“Henry did a tremendous job when Joey was out,” manager Don Kelly said. “It’s going to be fluid. We’ve got this series mapped out, but as far as it continues to go, it’s going to be a fluid situation. We’re going to see how they’re both doing and just go with the flow there game by game.”
Part of the equation is also that Bart hasn’t produced as much offensively as he did last season. His on-base percentage has held steady, but his slugging clip has gone from .462 to .302. After homering 13 times in 80 games in 2024, he has gone deep just once in '25.
The confidence is there, but Bart was expected to be a big part of this offense that has struggled to score runs all season.
“Obviously injuries don't help with stuff like that,” Bart said. “Go through good stretches, bad stretches, just gotta stay the course. Keep working, keep showing up everyday working, the results will come."
Time will tell if either catcher will take the reins and run with the job, but Davis at least has a little more cushion since he can still be optioned and has more team control. Bart only has two arbitration years remaining. A strong second half would go a long way to reestablishing where he ranks behind the plate.