Pirates Trade Joey Bart to Atlanta For Hunter Stratton
The Pirates solved their pending catching crowd and added a familiar face for relief pitching depth.
Late Thursday night, the Pittsburgh Pirates announced they traded catcher Joey Bart to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for right-handed pitcher Hunter Stratton.
Bart was on the injured list, and nearing the end of his rehab work with Triple-A Indianapolis. This posed a problem for the Pirates, as they would have had three catchers on the MLB roster.
In Bart’s absence, Endy Rodriguez was called up and has hit .267/.413/.467 in 76 plate appearances. This has gradually led to Rodriguez taking over the starting job from Henry Davis.
Davis is hitting .138/.242/.285 this season in 150 plate appearances. He also has two options remaining, which means the Pirates could have kept Bart and sent Davis to the minor leagues. There are multiple reasons why they may have opted to deal Bart.
One big factor could be that Davis has become the personal catcher of Paul Skenes.
Another factor is more speculation that Pirates General Manager Ben Cherington might not want to show signs of giving up on Davis, the first overall pick in 2021 who set the tone of his rebuild, during what is now the age 26 season for Davis.
The parallel between Bart and Davis is interesting. Bart was the second overall pick in 2018, and was seen as the future catcher for the Giants. By his age 27 season, the Giants let him go to the Pirates, and he had a brief career revival. Now Davis is nearing the same age as a former first overall pick, with the same struggles.
The difference is the Pirates have options to send Davis down, while the Giants were forced to let Bart go for a lower level pitching prospect.
Boosting the Relief Depth
In deciding to keep Davis over Bart, the Pirates got more than a lower level pitching prospect.
Stratton was originally drafted by the Pirates in the 16th round of the 2017 MLB draft. He made his MLB debut in 2023, then became a solid reliever in 2024. That season ended with a ruptured patella tendon, which put him out for a few months of the 2025 season.
Almost one year ago, the Pirates traded Stratton upon his return, sending him to the Braves for outfielder Titus Dumitru. Stratton ended up rebounding with the Braves, putting up a 2.20 ERA in 16.1 innings at the Major League level. Dumitru has ten home runs for Altoona this season.
This year, Stratton has only made one MLB appearance, and has spent most of his time in Triple-A. He had a 4.38 ERA in 21 appearances with Gwinnett, with a 24:16 K/BB ratio. The control issues are uncharacteristic to his game.
The Pirates optioned Stratton to Triple-A after the trade of Bart, which means Stratton will now add to their relief pitching depth.
Considering how the Pirates bullpen has struggled this season, adding relief pitching depth isn’t a bad thing. Especially when it’s a reliever like Stratton, who has seen MLB success as recently as last season. Perhaps he will see the same turnaround with the Pirates as he saw with the Braves after last year’s trade.
Salary Savings
Another benefit to this trade for the Pirates is a reduction in salary. Bart was making $2.53 million guaranteed this season. Stratton is making $780,000 while in the Majors. The Pirates shed over $1 million the rest of the season by dealing Bart.
The current payroll projection is a little over $104 million after the deal. The Pirates aren’t exactly spending an amount that would break the bank of most small market teams, but they’re also historically cheap. Adding an extra million dollars could make it easier to add bullpen help the rest of the season.
I don’t like typing that, but it’s true.
This is a team that kept their spending to an incredibly low level for over half a decade, to the extent that turning up the volume to $105 million seems loud. I’d say they should have money to spend, but the reality is they’re probably still going to penny-pinch, making the million-plus saved from Bart valuable to that process as they look for more relief help this summer.
Catching Depth
The catching depth situation changes with this move.
With Bart gone, the Pirates now have Rodriguez and Davis as their MLB duo, with Rodriguez looking like the starter.
In the minor leagues, they have Rafael Flores Jr., who isn’t good defensively, but has some power potential. He could be a cheaper version of Bart. Derek Berg, currently in Altoona, would be a deep sleeper as a defensive backup or an emergency option.
Overall, the move wasn’t bad. The Pirates made a decision behind the plate, boosted their bullpen depth, and saved some money for future moves this summer. Their catching depth is weakened, but not critically.
The biggest takeaway is that Rodriguez won a job in his time up and forced the Pirates to make a move.
Until the next time I go live…
-Tim Williams
Endy is the man!