Giants, Mariners re-assign Bart, J-Rod

With just a few weeks left in Spring Training, a trio of top 100 prospects are headed back to the Minors.
The Giants assigned Joey Bart, MLB.com's No. 14 overall prospect, to Minor League camp on Tuesday, as the Mariners did with their second-ranked prospect, Julio Rodriguez. Also, Cubs No. 4 prospect Miguel Amaya was assigned to Double-A Tennessee.

Bart, San Francisco's top prospect, put together a .438/.526/.875 slash line in 16 Cactus League at-bats. He homered twice and doubled once, driving in two runs and scoring five while drawing three walks.

💣 Bart Bomb 💣

Top #SFGiants prospect Joey Bart got all of this one in his first AB of the spring: pic.twitter.com/y2mHGmpNfx

— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) February 23, 2020

The second overall pick in the 2018 Draft began last season with Class A Advanced San Jose, where he spent the bulk of his first full professional campaign. He hit .265/.315/.479 in the California League, crushing 12 big flies and driving in 37 runs. That prompted a bump to Double-A Richmond, where he batted .316/.368/.544 with four homers and 11 RBIs in 22 games.
"I think it's time for him to get ready for the season on the Minor League side and get more regular at-bats, obviously," Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi told MLB.com. "This is the time of the spring when guys start getting closer to playing full games. And we've got a couple of guys [Rob Brantly, Tyler Heineman] in competition for the backup [catching] spot, and we need to see more of them."
Rodriguez struggled a bit this spring, as the No. 18 overall prospect was hitting .154/.267/.154 in 13 at-bats before the re-assignment. That comes in stark contrast to his production in big league camp last season, when he put up a .571/.571/.714 line in seven appearances.
The 19-year-old followed up on that spring success with a strong start to the 2019 season with Class A West Virginia, batting .293/.359/.490 with 10 homers and 50 RBIs in 67 games. He moved up to Class A Advanced Modesto, where he tore up Cal League pitching with a .462/.514/.738 line, 19 RBIs and 13 runs scored over his final 17 contests. He also saw some action in the Arizona Fall League, hitting .288/.397/.365 in 15 games, before he was shut down with a strained lower back.

Amaya sported a .160/.160/.200 line with two RBIs and two runs scored in 25 trips to the plate this spring. MLB.com's No. 95 overall prospect played 99 games with Class A Advanced Myrtle Beach last year, batting .235/.351/.402 with 11 homers, 24 doubles and 57 RBIs. He also threw out 34.8 percent of would-be basestealers.
"Miggy was great," Cubs manager David Ross told MLB.com, "his poise, his demeanor behind the plate, how he soaked up the conversations with Vic [Caratini] and Willson [Contreras]. He was great, man. I think he's going to be another guy you see impact us in the future very easy.
"I told him, 'You could back up in the big leagues right now with your catching ability, catch and throw.' I said, 'But, I think you've got higher goals than that.' I think he's going to be a real impact catcher at some point in the Major Leagues."