Patrick Bailey

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Patrick Lee Bailey

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Biographical Information[edit]

Switch-hitting catcher Patrick Bailey was drafted 13th overall in the 2020 amateur draft, by the San Francisco Giants. He was the first catcher to be selected, and like the vast majority of first-round picks that year, was coming out of a college program, in his case North Carolina State University. It was his second time being drafted, having been taken in the 317th round of the 2017 amateur draft coming out of high school, where he had been a member of the USA junior national team in 2016. In college, he had batted .288 or more in each of his three seasons (with 2020 being cut down to less than 20 games by the COVID-19 pandemic) with a total of 29 homers.

His first professional season came when the minor leagues re-started in 2021, with the Eugene Emeralds of the High-A West. He also played briefly for the ACL Giants Black that year, as well as with the San Jose Giants of the Low-A West. He hit just .185 at the highest level, but did much better with the other two teams, finishing at .265/.366/.429 in 82 games, with 61 runs, 25 doubles and 9 homers. In 2022, he spent a full season with Eugene, now in the Northwest League, and hit .225/342/.420 in 83 games. He hit 14 doubles and 12 homers and drove in 51 runs. He was named a league All-Star following the season, received a Gold Glove for his fielding prowess, and was also named a Giants organizational All-Star.

He started the 2023 season with the Richmond Flying Squirrels in the AA Eastern League. After hitting .333 in 14 games, he was promoted to the Sacramento River Cats of the AAA Pacific Coast League. In another 14 games there, he hit .216 before getting the call to the Show for the first time. He made his debut on May 19th as a late-game defensive replacement against the Miami Marlins, then got his first start, plate appearance and base hit all in the same game the next day as he went 1 for 3 in a 1-0 loss to the Marlins. His first hit was a single off Tanner Scott while batting right-handed in the 8th inning. He soon claimed the Giants' starting job behind the dish and his arrival coincided with a major improvement in the team's performance as it became relevant in the postseason race, in a move reminiscent of the radical improvement shown by the Baltimore Orioles after the arrival of top prospect Adley Rutschman the year before. He ended his rookie season with 97 games played, a .233 average, 7 homers and 48 RBIs for an OPS+ of 78.

In 2024, Bailey played a full season as the Giants' starting catcher, with 121 games, 115 of them behind the dish. The decision to make him the full-time starter led to the departure of Joey Bart, who had been considered the team's catcher of the future before him and who ended up having a very good season with the Pittsburgh Pirates. With the bat, Bailey essentially replicated his rookie season over a longer period, hitting .234 with 8 homers and 46 RBIs, for an OPS+ of 84. He did however win the Gold Glove Award as the National League's best defensive catcher, and the Giants were happy with that. In 2025, he continued to display excellent defense and handling of the team's pitching staff - it's no coincidence that the Giants sent three pitchers to the All-Star Game, but his contribution with the bat regressed over the first half of the season, as by the end of June he was hitting just .196 with a single homer. On July 8th, he had a rare highlight with the bat by delivering one of the most improbable hits of the year: a walk-off three-run inside-the-park homer that turned a 3-1 deficit into a 4-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. It was the first walk-off homer hit inside the park by anyone since Tyler Naquin had turned the trick in 2016, and he was only the third catcher in history to accomplish the feat. The ball, hit off Phillies closer Jordan Romano with Casey Schmitt and Wilmer Flores on base, took a bad bounce off the fence, away from chasing outfielders Brandon Marsh and Nick Castellanos. Hit 414 feet from home plate, it would have been a regular homer in any park other than Oracle Park, so it was just not a case of a lucky bounce though. He had another memorable walk-off blast on September 12th, this one a 10th-inning grand slam off Tanner Scott to give the Giants a 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers, as the team was clawing its way back into the postseason race. No player before him at hit a walk-off slam and a walk-off inside-the-parker in the same season, it almost goes without saying. He ended the year at .222 in 135 games, with 6 homers and 55 RBIs, for an OPS+ of 72 as the Giants missed the postseason.

In 2026, he started the season in a deep hitting slump. After 30 games, he was hitting just .146 with 1 homer and 5 RBIs, for a dreadful OPS+ of just 16. He was getting very hard to justify his presence in the starting line-up at that point, even with some excellent defensive work. Still, it was a big surprise when on May 9th he was traded to the Cleveland Guardians in exchange for minor league pitcher Matt Wilkinson and a Competitive Balance Round A, the 29th overall, in the 2026 amateur draft. The Guardians already had three catchers on the roster in Bo Naylor, David Fry and Austin Hedges, the latter a carbon copy of Bailey as a Gold Glove caliber defender whose bat was anemic, although he was hitting well since the start of the season. However, Naylor had been struggling with the bat and was immediately sent down to AAA to make room for Bailey, while Fry was likely to return to playing primarily first base and the outfield, where his bat was more valuable.

Notable Achievements[edit]

Further Reading[edit]

  • Maria Guardado: "Bailey makes 1st start count with 1st big league hit: Webb K's 7 while dealing with low back tightness, exits after 6 innings", mlb.com, May 20, 2023. [1]
  • Maria Guardado: "Bailey calls game with once-in-a-CENTURY walk-off", mlb.com, July 9, 2025. [2]
  • Maria Guardado: "Bailey's walk-off slam stuns Dodgers as Giants tighten NL Wild Card race", mlb.com, September 13, 2025. [3]
  • Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru: "The rookie catcher quietly fueling Giants' playoff push", mlb.com, August 17, 2023. [4]
  • Tim Stebbins: "2-time Gold Glover Bailey traded to Guardians; Draft pick, LHP prospect to Giants", mlb.com, May 9, 2026. [5]

Related Sites[edit]

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