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The Giants’ dusty, tightly-confined backfields abut a gym with the sort of athleisure-wearing clientele you’d expect in Scottsdale. In January of 2019, when most baseball facilities across the country were dark, just feet away from oblivious Peloton riders and tennis-playing retirees, a few lucky scouts and media folks had a religious experience watching the sweetest-swinging teenager on Earth absolutely roast balls fed to his barrel by a high-speed pitching machine. Because of how close you can sit next to the field there, you can feel the sonic force of bat-to-ball impact radiate into your body. When Marco Luciano connects, you feel it to your core. He is not normal. To find bat speed comps you need to look toward Javier Báez, Eric Davis, or whoever the top of your mental catalog might be. And while he already generates plenty of it, Luciano’s square-shouldered frame indicated more power might be coming. After hitting the weight room throughout 2020, he weighed in for 20
The MLB debut of Joey Bart in 2020 didn’t quite go according to plan. The powerful backstop struggled mightily and is still looking for his first home run 33 games later. A lackluster .233/.288/.320 slash line, 2.7% walk rate, and 36.9% strikeout rate accompanied that home run goose egg. Yeah, not good. But hey, the silver lining here is that his struggles have opened a solid buy-low window in dynasty leagues.
Bart might not have the same hit tool as Adley Rutschman or even close, but the power is similar and easily grades as plus long-term with the upside for 25-plus homers annually. While the swing can get a tad long at times, Bart has shown good bat speed with a swing path geared for driving the ball in the air. If Bart can clean up his approach and become a bit more patient, he has the upside to develop into a top-5 fantasy catcher. Following his sluggish MLB debut, now is a great time to trade for him in dynasty leagues as his value might never be lower. Expect him back up so