SECAUCUS, N.J. (AP) — Already a name familiar to baseball circles around the southeast, Joey Bart's moniker reached national status on Monday.
The former Buford High and current Georgia Tech baseball standout was selected as the No. 2 pick overall in the 2018 Major League Baseball draft by the San Francisco Giants.
Bart followed No. 1 overall pick Casey Mize, a pitcher selected by Detroit.
The Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year is looked at as a potential future replacement for Giants star Buster Posey and follows in the footsteps of Matt Wieters and Jason Varitek — big league backstops who also came out of Georgia Tech.
Bart led the ACC in hitting with a .359 average and topped the Yellow Jackets with a .632 slugging percentage, 79 hits, 16 home runs, 55 runs and a .471 on-base percentage. He's also one of the country's best defensive catchers, with a .992 fielding percentage on the season while throwing out 12 of 33 would-be base stealers.
Wichita State third baseman Alec Bohm was the first of six players attending the draft to be selected, going third overall to Philadelphia.
Oregon State second baseman Nick Madrigal — at 5-foot-7, 160 pounds — went fourth to the Chicago White Sox.
Rounding out the top five was Cincinnati, which took Florida third baseman Jonathan India.
