THE FLATS – Georgia Tech standout catcher Joey Bart was named first-team all-America by both Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball on Thursday.
A 2018 Golden Spikes Award, Johnny Bench Award and Dick Howser Trophy semifinalist, Bart had a superb junior season in 2018 that saw him named the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Player of the Year, ACC Defensive Player of the Year and earn a spot on the all-ACC first team.
A 2018 consensus preseason all-America, Bart led both the ACC and the Jackets in hitting with a .359 average on the season. He led the team and ranked second in the league in slugging percentage (.632) and hits (79), while also posting a team-high in home runs (16), runs scored (55) and on-base percentage (.471), which all ranked in the top 10 in the ACC.
The Buford, Ga. native posted a season-high 16-game hitting streak, the longest of the year for a Yellow Jacket player, and totaled 24 multi-hit games on the season overall, which included a pair of multi-home run games in which he blasted two long balls at Mercer on April 10 and on the road at Virginia on May 14.
A solid defensive catcher, Bart posted a .992 fielding percentage on the season, threw out 12-of-33 would-be base stealers and recorded three pickoffs from behind the plate.
The junior is ranked as the No. 1 catcher in all of Division I baseball by Baseball America, No. 2 by D1Baseball.com and is a potential top-10 pick in June’s MLB First-Year Player Draft.
Last season, Bart was an all-ACC second team selection and earned ABCA/Rawlings all-region second team honors as a sophomore.
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