The Giants were excited to select the best catcher available in last week's MLB draft. A week later, that tag became official.
Patrick Bailey, taken 13th overall in last Wednesday's first round, won the Johnny Bench Award, given annually to the nation's top collegiate catcher (the Buster Posey Award, which is similar, was not given out this year because of the shortened season). Bailey is the third current Giant to be named the top collegiate catcher, joining Posey (2008) and Joey Bart (2018).
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NC State's season was cut short, but Bailey was crushing opposing pitchers in his brief time on the field as a junior. In 17 games, he hit .296 with six homers, 20 RBI and 20 runs scored. Bailey was slugging .685 when COVID-19 shut the sport down. Three of his homers were grand slams and he homered from both sides in a game.
This year's winner will join a Zoom call later this month with Bench, the Reds Hall-of-Famer. Next spring, Bailey should be in big league camp with Posey, who had the award named after him last year. Bench and the Reds have continued to name their own winner.
[RELATED: Why Giants prospect was 'shocked' Bailey was their top pick]
The Giants already had Bart in the organization when this year's draft came around, but felt Bailey was the best talent left on the board.
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"Bailey may have been the guy that just had the broadest consensus in our group, from (scouting director Michael Holmes) to the rest of his scouting group, to our analytics department which loved the power and patience and defensive skills," president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said last week. "It was a really strong consensus pick for us as an organization. We were obviously thrilled that he was there, and it was actually a pretty easy decision for us."
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