In 2017, Bailey graduated from Wesleyan Christian Academy in NC. He had committed to North Carolina State.

The only other player chosen out of Wesleyan Christian was Wil Myers. That gets Patrick's respect, of course.

“I do look up to him,” Bailey said. “Obviously being a guy from this school I’m trying to follow in his footsteps, and I guess ultimately create better footsteps.”

Wesleyan head coach Scott Davis sees some similarities between Myers and Bailey but acknowledges that they are very different players.

“Wil’s approach was more relaxed, laid back. Patrick’s approach is more analytical,” Davis said. “Patrick comes at it from more of an academic standpoint. He understands the game, he understands hitters. He’s more in tune with some of the analytics of the game, whereas with Wil, it was just roll him out there and let him play. So they’re similar in their preparation but different in the way they prepared.” (Hudson Belinsky - Baseball America - 3/24/2017)

In 2017, Bailey was the Twins 37th round pick, out of high school. He did not sign, choosing to honor his commitment to North Carolina State.

In 2018, Patrick was named Atlantic Coast Conference Freshman of the Year after setting a North Carolina State first-year record with 13 homers.

Bailey is a veteran of the U.S. national 18-and-under and collegiate teams.

2019 scouting report: Following in the footsteps of Joey Bart and Adley Rutschman, Patrick Bailey is this year’s highest-ranked college catcher. At one point last year, there was chatter that Bailey could be drafted in the Top 5 like Bart and Rutschman because of his defensive skills and ability to hit from both sides of the plate.

That draft stock cooled off a bit as Bailey hit .231/.333/.308 in nine games with Team USA last summer, due in large part to his 12 strikeouts in just 26 at-bats. Small sample size, but that strikeout tendency carried over to the 17 games he played in 2020, which Bailey punched out 18 times in just 73 plate appearances (24.7 K%).

Outside of the swing and miss, Bailey is a switch-hitting catcher who demonstrates average power (50 grade) from both sides. In 131 games at NC State, Bailey hit .302/.411/.568 with 29 home runs and 106 RBI. He was the ACC Freshman of the Year in 2018, and All-ACC First Team in 2019.

Bailey stands 6’2″ and will turn 21 years old on May 29. 

Hitting:  It was just four years ago that the White Sox spent their 10th overall pick on catcher Zack Collins, whose scouting report was much different than Bailey’s. Collins was an offensive-first catcher, and scouts had serious concerns about his ability to stay behind the plate. Bailey is a switch-hitting catcher whose strongest trait is his defense. Comparing what they achieved in college:

The swing and miss in Collins game carried over from college, but he still maintained a good walk rate while demonstrating power when he made contact. The concern for Collins moving forward is whether he can tap into that power against better command in the majors. His first taste suggests Collins needs some more progress, and that’s part is the reason why the White Sox signed Yasmani Grandal this offseason.

I could see Bailey following a similar path offensively to Collins. Personally, I think he’s better swinging left-handed. The stance is open and he does a good job of using his lower half to generate loft when making contact. His right-handed stance is more closed with a gap-to-gap approach.

Defense:  What gets scouts and analysts hyped about Bailey is his defense, and this is where comparisons to Collins or Yermín Mercedes wouldn’t be worthwhile if the White Sox selected him. To start, Bailey calls his own games. That’s very uncommon to see in the college game. It speaks to Bailey’s game preparation and his ability to handle a pitching staff. To boot, in 2019, NC State’s pitching staff led the conference in ERA.

Even at 6’2”, Bailey moves well behind the plate. Typically when watching college catchers, you can tell if they prefer moving one side to another. For example, pitches that are in the dirt moving to the left are better blocked than moving to their right. I don’t see Bailey favoring one side over the other. He seems to be well-balanced, which is something we can’t say watching Mercedes try to catch. In his freshman season, Bailey allowed 13 passed balls. The next two seasons? Two and two. That’s very impressive for a college catcher.

Then there’s Bailey’s throwing arm. Speaking to a few analysts who saw Bailey at Team USA this past summer, they had him clocked at 1.9 pop time, which is 50-grade. In highlights, Bailey is throwing from multiple angles and they are not consistent. However, they find their way to second base on target. In 2019, Bailey threw out 32.5% of base-stealers but was only 1-for-14 in 2020. This part of Bailey’s defense could use some more work getting into a better throwing stance.

Summary:  Selecting Patrick Bailey 11th overall would follow the White Sox trend adding “safe” college players with higher floors but with a lower ceiling. Best case scenario might be that Bailey turns out to be a better defensive version of Matt Wieters. Worst case is that Bailey is a backup catcher because the strikeouts pile up and he doesn’t show enough power at the plate. (Josh Nelson - May 14, 2020)

June 2020: The Giants chose Bailey in the first round (#13 overall), out of NC State University. Bailey signed for $3,797,500, via scout Mark O'Sullivan.

June 10, 2020: The Giants landed the top-ranked catcher in the 2020 Draft, Patrick Bailey, aka "Patty Barrels".

Here are 10 things to know about the 21-year-old switch-hitter from NC State, who was ranked MLB Pipeline's No. 17 Draft prospect.

• This is no knock against Buster Posey, but Bailey's catcher role model growing up? Yadi.

"Obviously the easy answer is Yadier Molina — and it's still him," Bailey told NCAA.com in a recent Q&A. "Just how easy the game comes to him, and what he does with a pitching staff, is something I've always tried to gear my game around."

• Bailey fell in love with catching in middle school, when he worked with Scott Bankhead -- an All-American pitcher at UNC and a Major Leaguer for 10 years -- at the North Carolina Baseball Academy in his hometown of Greensboro. Bankhead would bring in local college pitchers for instruction, but he needed someone to catch them. That was Bailey.

"I got back there and was catching college guys in seventh, eighth and ninth grade," Bailey said in a recent Zoom interview with local media. "At that age, I'm freaking out because I'm catching this 18-, 19-, 20-year-old guy. I think that is what kind of fueled the fire for getting behind the plate."

• A switch-hitter since age 11, Bailey homered from both sides of the plate in the same game twice in his career at NC State — first against William & Mary as a freshman, then against Iowa this February. No other player in program history has ever done that even once.

Maybe that's why Bailey's Wolfpack teammates started calling him "Patty Barrels."

• Speaking of barrels ... grand slams are Bailey's thing. Bailey crushed three grand slams in an 11-day span this season — the first against Tennessee Tech on Feb. 22, the second against Iowa on Feb. 28 and the third against Coastal Carolina on March 4.

Bailey's most memorable hit is also a grand slam, but it's not even one of those three. He hit another one early in his freshman season against Campbell, which has stuck with him since it was one of his first big moments of his collegiate career.

• A little personal trivia … Bailey's favorite hobby off the field is golf. His favorite snack is peanut butter, or anything with peanut butter — pretzels, apples, whatever.

A highlight of his time at NC State? Playing against rival UNC at the Durham Bulls' stadium his freshman year, which he calls a "surreal moment." And the favorite park he's played in? BB&T Ballpark, home of the Charlotte Knights.

• Bailey was named the ACC Freshman of the Year in 2018 after setting an NC State freshman home run record with 13. As a sophomore in 2019, he was a semifinalist for the Buster Posey Award, given to the nation's best catcher (the award went to Adley Rutschman). In both '18 and '19, Bailey also played for the U.S. Collegiate National Team, in addition to playing for the 18U National Team in high school.

• Bailey recently got engaged. He and Leigha are getting married in November. Bailey proposed on the beach in Turks and Caicos while they were on vacation over Christmas break. He thinks it was a surprise.

• Bailey was first drafted out of Wesleyan Christian Academy, his North Carolina high school, in the 37th round by the Twins in 2017. He and Wil Myers are the only two players to be drafted out of Wesleyan. (Coincidentally, Myers was also a catcher when the Royals picked him in 2009.)

• His senior year of high school in 2017, Bailey led Wesleyan to a second consecutive North Carolina independent schools state championship. Bailey batted .510 with five home runs and 33 RBIs in 28 games.

• In the middle of Wesleyan's first state championship season, Bailey got the rare privilege of calling his own pitches — he was that good behind the plate.

"We’ve never allowed our catchers to call pitches," Wesleyan coach Scott Davis told the Greensboro News & Record in 2017. "But we made that decision early last year that we were going to let him do that because he’s very capable of doing it. He understands how to attack hitters, and pitchers love throwing to him."

One of Bailey's Wesleyan teammates, pitcher Luke Davis, told the News & Record: "He's such a great receiver back there that he probably steals us at least 10 strikes a game." (D Adler - MLB.com - June 10, 2020)

2020 Season: Bailey reported to the alternate training site after signing and finished the year in instructional league.

In 2021, the Baseball America Prospect Handbook rated Patrick as the 7th-best prospect in the Giants' organization. Bailey was not rated in 2022 but came in at #25 in 2023.

2022 Season: Bailey proved qualitative growth can be just as important for a Minor Leaguer as shiny numbers. Not only was the No. 12 Giants prospect a key cog in Eugene's second consecutive championship, he also helped lead a pitching staff that paced the circuit in nearly every major category while playing Gold Glove defense behind the plate.

Offensively, it was a season of peaks and valleys. Bailey struggled mightily in April and at various points throughout the campaign, but he did enough throughout the rest of the year to finish with a .761 OPS and career highs of 12 homers and 51 RBIs in 83 games. The major difference between his strong past two seasons was luck, or lack thereof. Bailey's .225 average makes more sense when paired with his .253 BABIP, but he still finished with an wRC+ of 113.

"His slow start hurt his final numbers, but Patrick proved to be an above-average performer if you look under the hood a bit more," said Giants senior director of player development Kyle Haines. "He drove the ball well, continued to play fantastic defense and showed a lot of growth, which is what the Minors are all about. We were happy with what he did for us this year."  (Michael Avallone - Dec. 12, 2022)

He was asked: After you got the good news about the call up, who was the first person you called? Bailey started to answer. He called Giants bullpen coach and catching coordinator Craig Albernaz … but only after he tracked down his wife, Leigha, so he could tell her in person. 

“Don’t worry,” Bailey said. “I didn’t mess up.”

Albernaz might not be a member of Bailey’s immediate family, but he’s been there from the start. And Bailey has been there from the very start for Albernaz, too.

“We talk about it all the time,” Albernaz said. “You get drafted, your college season gets cut short and you get thrown into summer camp at Oracle Park — and that’s your first time in professional baseball? That was definitely eye-opening for him. I just remember the drills we did to try to get him to feel certain things, how wide-eyed he was, and being young and naïve. To me, that tells the story of how far he’s come. But also how far we’ve come as an organization. To have a guy who was there at the start with all the craziness, and to be here now, even thinking about it, it gives me goosebumps."

Bailey’s calmness, poise, instincts and ability to create a rapport with a pitcher are what stood out to Albernaz going back to that first summer camp in the bubble. The Giants had to be patient with his development as he struggled with his natural, right-handed swing at High-A Eugene last season, even though the catching skills — he won the Rawlings Gold Glove award encompassing all minor-league catchers — were worthy of the next challenge.

“My motto this year is to be where my feet are and just trying to compete, wherever that is,” Bailey said. “I’m pretty happy it’s right here, right now.” (Baggarly - May 19, 2023 - The Athletic)

MLB debut (May 19, 2023):  Bailey, a 23-year-old switch-hitter, wasn’t in the starting lineup against reigning NL Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara, but he entered the game as a defensive replacement in the top of the seventh inning, catching relievers John Brebbia, Taylor Rogers and Tyler Rogers over the final three innings of the Giants’ 4-3 win at Oracle Park.

Known as an elite defender behind the plate, Bailey showed off his framing skills by helping to steal a third strike for Brebbia, who punched out Jorge Soler on a 3-2 slider for the final out of the seventh. Bailey made his debut in front of his wife, Leigha, who wiped away tears as she held the couple’s baby daughter, Briella.

Manager Gabe Kapler said he was impressed by Bailey’s “confident” and “relaxed” demeanor, adding that Bailey looked “like he belonged.”

Bailey didn’t get a plate appearance, but he is expected to make his hitting debut when he will catch Logan Webb in his first career Major League start.

“Full of a lot of emotions,” Bailey said before the game. “It’s definitely a dream come true. I’m looking forward to getting it going.” (M Guardado - MLB.com - May 20, 2023)

Aug 16, 2023: Here’s the setup: In May, a middling team abruptly installs a top catching prospect into a starting role and, seemingly overnight, its season is transformed. In fact, the club starts to look like a contender.

That sounds awfully familiar, but the script is a little different this time around. A year ago, we were talking about Adley Rutschman, harbinger of a new, much less miserable era of Orioles baseball. In 2023, the young backstop in question is Patrick Bailey, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the similarities between the two.

In 2022, the Orioles were 16-24 (.400) before promoting Rutschman and went 67-55 (.549) after. Before Bailey’s May 19 debut, the Giants were 20-23 (.465), already eight games out of first place in the NL West. They’ve since gone 44-34 (.564) and, if the season ended today, would be the National League's second Wild Card. The Giants’ turnaround isn’t something we can credit entirely to Bailey, but his fingerprints are all over it. At the end of the day, he's made his pitchers better. Here are a few reasons why.

1) He's got pop (time)

As a rule, a catcher’s caught stealing percentage tends to be a poor measurement of their aptitude, but Bailey, who ranks fourth among catchers with at least 25 attempts (35.6%), is a bit of an exception.

For one, his average pop time to second base trails only that of perennial league leader J.T. Realmuto, and Bailey has the fastest pop time of the 2023 season thus far (1.71 seconds).

Fastest average pop time to 2B, 2023:     1. J.T. Realmuto: 1.83 seconds     2. (tie) Patrick Bailey: 1.87 seconds

2. (tie) Garrett Stubbs: 1.87 seconds      4. Christian Bethancourt: 1.88 seconds

5. Sean Murphy: 1.89 seconds                 MLB avg.: 2.00 seconds

There’s also his arm, usually his highest-graded tool in the Minors, which averages 84.4 mph on stolen base attempts, ranking 17th out of 73 catchers with at least five max-effort throws to second base.

Given both of those factors, it’s not too surprising that Statcast’s Caught Stealing Above Average, which removes the potential impact of a slow-working pitcher by taking measurements at the time a pitch crosses the plate, absolutely loves Bailey.

Most CS Above Average, 2023:     1. Gabriel Moreno: 7        2. (tie) Connor Wong: 6     2. (tie) Patrick Bailey: 6                     2. (tie) Elias Díaz: 6           2. (tie) Shea Langeliers: 6

Basically, Bailey isn't just making the plays he should make — he's also getting outs he has no business converting. Opposing baserunners have yet to make the adjustment, and he appears to have caught on.

2) He's MLB's best at pitch framing. It would have been enough for Bailey to have command over the running game, but he's a gifted framer. In that way, he was made for the 2023 Giants, a group that ranks 30th in baseball in four-seam fastball rate (12.7%, less than half that of the Brewers, who rank 29th) and throws more sinkers than any other team in baseball (29.7%).

Giants pitchers, broadly, are not built to challenge hitters in the zone, and success often depends on their ability to throw strikes without leaving the ball out over the plate. Fortunately for them, Bailey converts more non-swings in the shadow zone into called strikes than any other qualifying catcher.

Highest strike rate, 2023:

Among 60 qualifying catchers:     1. Patrick Bailey: 53.1%     2. Austin Hedges: 52.0%

3. Cam Gallagher: 50.4%     4. (tie) Jonah Heim: 50.0%     4. (tie) Sean Murphy: 50.0%

Most catcher framing runs, 2023:     1. Austin Hedges: 11     2. Patrick Bailey: 10     3.  (tie) Jonah Heim: 8

3. (tie) Francisco Alvarez: 8                 5.  (tie) William Contreras: 7                              5.  (tie) Sean Murphy: 7

In measuring just how much of an impact framing can make, we can also look at Fielding Run Value, which combines all of Statcast’s defensive metrics to measure all fielders on the same scale. Bailey’s +13 fielding runs — which includes that absurd +10 from framing — have him tied for the Major League lead with Rockies outfielder Brenton Doyle, who ranks in the 98th percentile in both sprint speed and arm strength. To be clear, that's a catcher of similar defensive value to a natural center fielder.

Best Fielding Run Value, 2023:     1. (tie) Brenton Doyle: +131. (tie) Patrick Bailey: +13 (+10 framing, +4 throwing, -1 blocking)     3. (tie) Joey Wiemer: +12         3. (tie) Austin Hedges: +12        3. (tie) Sean Murphy: +12

3) He's earned his pitchers' trust.

Since Bailey’s debut, the Giants’ staff ERA has fallen by almost a run (4.40 through May 18, 3.63 since). While those two things could be unrelated, the catcher ERA gap between Bailey (3.41) and backup Blake Sabol (5.10) was the largest between any club’s top two catchers.

Some of that is the product of the pitchers they're working with — Bailey has caught twice as many of Logan Webb's starts, for one — but for Webb and Alex Cobb, who have all but held the Giants rotation together, posting a combined 3.41 ERA and 4.60 strikeout-to-walk ratio, Bailey's ability to steal strikes has gone hand-in-hand with their success. Webb, who has an outside shot at taking home the NL Cy Young Award this year, leads all pitchers with a +36 run value on shadow zone pitches (Cobb, at +19, is tied for 34th of 300 qualifying pitchers) and, even so, has a negative run value on pitches in the heart of the zone (-3).

But even we can admit there’s a limit to what can be quantified. For everything else, we have the Giants pitchers themselves.

"It’s his maturity when things are getting to a breaking point in the game or seeing that certain pitches aren’t working,” the veteran Cobb said of Bailey. “Memorizing the scouting report, shifting from it when things aren’t going according to that plan. He just has a feel for the game that you can’t teach. I think we’ve all said it already, but he’s just so far beyond his years in his maturity behind the plate.”

According to Cobb, whatever Bailey achieves at the Major League level, “nobody’s really surprised anymore." Consider this us doing our part to spread the good word. (SS Chepuru - MLB.com - Aug 17, 2023)

2023 Season:

Stats: 97 G, 353 PA, 7 HR, .233/.285/.359 (.644 OPS), 5.9% BB%, 28.3% K%, 77 OPS+, 0.8 bWAR

Noteworthy:  +26.9 FanGraphs’ Defensive Runs Above Average, leading all major leaguers at all positions.

Patrick had a hot start in Double-A (.333/.400/.481 in 60 PA) that led to a promotion to Triple-A. He struggled out of the gate in Sacramento (0-for-his-first-9) but was 11-for-his-next-42 with a pair of homers and 5 walks against 14 strikeouts. After Schmitt, could Bailey be a second bolt of lightning caught in an orange and black bottle? Coming into the season, the conventional wisdom was that this switch hitter couldn’t really hit — or, at least, didn’t have much power — as a righty. Were it not for Joey Bart’s groin (or uninspiring play that compelled the Giants to take issue with his groin), Bailey’s debut might’ve been delayed. (Bryan Murphy - Oct 12, 2023)

Feb 6, 2024: The Giants still have question marks at several positions as they prepare to decamp to Arizona for the start of Spring Training next week, but they can rest assured knowing that catcher isn’t one of them.

After establishing himself as one of the premier defensive backstops in baseball last year, Patrick Bailey is expected to reprise his starting role behind the plate and lead a catching group that includes newcomer Tom Murphy, who joined the Giants on a two-year, $8.25 million deal this offseason.

Bailey’s emergence as the Giants’ catcher of the future was one of the few bright spots of an otherwise disappointing 2023 campaign, as the 24-year-old was named a National League Gold Glove Award finalist as a rookie. Bailey was ultimately edged by Gabriel Moreno of the rival D-backs, but he said he remains motivated to continue to improve with the glove in 2024 and beyond.  

“It was obviously a cool feeling to be recognized, especially with that group of catchers,” Bailey said at the Giants’ third FanFest Tour stop. “Every year, I’m trying to put out the best product I can and be the best defender I can possibly be and control what I can control.”

Bailey has acknowledged that he wore down physically toward the end of the season after appearing in a career-high 125 games between the Majors and the Minors in 2023, so he focused on building his strength back this winter to ensure that he can do a better job of withstanding the workload in his second year in the big leagues.

“I lost a lot of weight during the season last year,” said Bailey, who estimated that he dropped as much as 15 pounds in 2023. “I felt like I lost a lot of strength towards the end. That’s probably been the biggest emphasis. Swing-wise, from the left side, just simplifying as much as I can. Just to be able to hopefully repeat the swing and I guess make it easier for myself.”

Bailey got to spend some time with new manager Bob Melvin and said he’s looking forward to playing for the former big league catcher. He’s also eager to get to know Jordan Hicks and Robbie Ray, the Giants’ top two pitching acquisitions this offseason.

“I’m really excited about both of them,” Bailey said. “Obviously, you’ve got Robbie Ray, who’s been a Cy Young Award winner. That’s pretty valuable. And then Jordan Hicks throwing 100 mph sinkers as a starter is going to be pretty fun.”

With Ray (Tommy John surgery) and Alex Cobb (left hip surgery) expected to be out until midseason, the Giants will be relying on young starters like Kyle Harrison, Keaton Winn and Tristan Beck to cover gaps in the rotation early in the year, but Bailey said he’s confident the trio will be able to step in and deliver.

“I think Kyle, Keaton and Tristan had really, really good years last year,” Bailey said. “I think more than anything, it’s just kind of building confidence that they can be successful big league pitchers. I think all of them earned the opportunity they’re going to get this year. Hopefully we can keep building off the success they had last year.” 

“I think Kyle, Keaton and Tristan had really, really good years last year,” Bailey said. “I think more than anything, it’s just kind of building confidence that they can be successful big league pitchers. I think all of them earned the opportunity they’re going to get this year. Hopefully we can keep building off the success they had last year.” (M Guardado - MLB.com - Feb 6, 2024)

Bailey is a switch-hitting catcher. He has 55 grade power from both sides of the dish. He has a fringe-average 45 grade Hit tool.

Bailey’s offensive game is more of a work in progress. He’s a switch hitter with an inconsistent approach and gets in trouble when he starts chasing power. His swing can be a bit grooved as well, especially from the right side. Bailey is a vastly better hitter from the left side (.252, .851 OPS) than the right (.133, 460 OPS) and may need to scrap switch-hitting. (Josh Norris - BAPH - Spring 2023)

Compared to Bart, Bailey puts together higher quality at-bats but produces less power. A switch-hitter who's more proficient from the left side of the plate, he works counts and uses the entire field. He's strong and did a better job of driving the ball after resetting in Low-A, and he could provide 20 or more homers per season with healthy on-base percentages if not high batting averages. (Spring 2022)

Patrick was often late on fastballs and couldn’t adjust to breaking pitches. He hit the ball fairly hard—his average exit velocity was 89 mph—but he didn’t hit it often enough. Internal evaluators believe he may have been pressing early and trying to impress too much, which led to his poor start in 202, despite having decent swing mechanics. (Josh Norris - BA Prospect Handbook - Spring, 2022)

Though he's a switch-hitter with power from both sides of the plate, Patrick has different setups in each swing. He takes a loftier swing path from the left side, where he is more of a power threat, and a flatter, contact-oriented swing from the right side.

Bailey's 20-25 homer potential stands out more than his hitting ability, but he makes consistent contact and walked nearly as much as he struck out in college. While his lefty swing is better than his righty stroke, he's capable of doing damage from either side. Though the coronavirus pandemic delayed his pro debut until 2021, the Giants believe exposing him to advanced pitching at their alternate site last summer may expedite his offensive and defensive development. (Spring 2021)

A switch-hitter whose strength gives him solid raw power from both sides of the plate, Bailey went deep as a lefty and righty in the same game twice during his college career. While his pop stands out more than his hitting ability, he makes consistent contact and draws a healthy amount of walks. Though he wasn't productive with wood bats last summer with Team USA, scouts believe he'll produce enough offense to play regularly in the big leagues. (Spring 2020)

Patrick's hit tool is a 45 grade. But he consistently makes contact. He has a good eye and draws a lot of walks.

Patrick walks almost as often as he strikes out. His swing looks very similar from both sides of the plate, incorporating a high leg kick and a sharp upward plane.

June 10, 2020: A switch-hitter since age 11, Bailey homered from both sides of the plate in the same game twice in his career at NC State — first against William & Mary as a freshman, then against Iowa this February. No other player in program history has ever done that even once.

Maybe that's why Bailey's Wolfpack teammates started calling him "Patty Barrels."

Speaking of barrels ... grand slams are Bailey's thing. Bailey crushed three grand slams in an 11-day span this season — the first against Tennessee Tech on Feb. 22, the second against Iowa on Feb. 28 and the third against Coastal Carolina on March 4.

Bailey's most memorable hit is also a grand slam, but it's not even one of those three. He hit another one early in his freshman season against Campbell, which has stuck with him since it was one of his first big moments of his collegiate career.

 2024 Season: Stats: 121 G, 448 PA, .234/ .298/ .339/ .637, 81 wRC+, -9.7 Offense, 36.7 Defense, 4.3 fWAR

Bailey led all catchers in the Majors with 20 Defensive Runs Saved by a healthy margin (Gabriel Moreno’s 10 DRS was second). His 22 Fielding Run Value led all defensive players period. In this new-fangled world of one-knee catching Bailey is the bee’s knee.

In his first full year, the San Francisco Giants backstop excelled at everything behind the dish—blocking be damned.

  His 9 CS Above-Average (a Savant metric) is second only to Will Smith’s 10, which along with his 1.83 pop time (97th percentile) helped control the running game — a necessity with the underwater windups of Logan Webb and Camilo Doval on the mound. In terms of framing, Bailey could franchise a Michael’s location. His 16 Catcher Framing Runs (another Savant metric) paced the Majors.

 That kind of cross-the-board dominance is rare. Smith, another Gold Glove finalist, handled base-stealers better than anybody, but statistically ranks as the worst framer and one of the worst blockers in baseball. Somewhat odd given that it’s usually one or the other. Based on Savant metrics, Danny Jensen was the best blocking catcher in baseball in 2024; he ranked in the 21st percentile in terms of pitch-framing. Moreno won the Gold Glove last year based on his talents blocking and controlling the running game — his framing ranked in the 32nd percentile. Bailey grades poorly as a blocker because he’s so concerned with receiving pitches in a way that sells strikes.

No matter how frustrated it makes John Smoltz, this is how things are done now. A catcher isn’t just a meat wall for pitchers to pelt anymore. This development has been a long time coming, ever since Johnny Bench chose common sense over injury and tucked his throwing hand behind his back. Catchers are artists, performers, salesmen and con men. Stopping a 98 MPH fastball dead in its tracks isn’t a subtle thing. It’s blunt-force trauma, and it’s a catcher’s job to somehow receive that impact with finesse, to pin it to a corner or drop it down a fraction of a seam. The difference between a low splitter called a ball or a strike; the difference between a 2-1 count or 1-2 count is perhaps the greatest swing in this game of swings.

Framing matters. It can change an at-bat, an inning, a game, a week, a season, a life... At the very least, it’s a valuable skill to boast (until our ABS Overlords take over, of course), as well as a marketable one that you know the Giants last Gold Glove winning catcher is going to push. Humans are a vain bunch, and pitchers are the worst of ‘em — they want to throw to someone who will make them look good. Bailey is the Men’s Warehouse of catchers. A strip mall of talents. Free agent arms want to work with this guy.

 Funnily enough, Bailey made pitchers look pretty good standing at the plate too.

For two months during the summer of 2024, Patrick Bailey was the worst offensive player in baseball. Across July and August, Bailey was a shirt on a clothesline when it came to hitting. A broken air conditioning unit. The third Godfather movie. A summer to forget. Bailey scrounged together a measly on-base percentage and a paltry slugging to compile a dinky a .409 OPS and a 17 wRC+ — the lowest marks in baseball (min. 120 PA) during those months. In August, he managed just a .168 OPS and a -55 wRC+. The next lowest wRC+ mark that month was the Angels’ Logan O’Hoppe at -7. In 67 plate appearances, Bailey collected just four hits: three singles and a double. He walked twice, recorded one sacrifice fly and two runs batted-in.

It was the second time in two years Bailey fell off a cliff offensively. On one hand, an understandable-if-regrettable trend given the demands exacted upon a catcher; also somewhat palatable considering Bailey is still getting acclimated to those demands over a full season. On the other hand … oof, the slump was bad. REALLY bad. And a stark contrast to his first half numbers when he hit .283 with a .784 OPS and 124 wRC+.

He had improved on the bat control of his debut campaign, while striking out less and walking more. Bailey also authored some of the signature offensive moments of the season for the Giants: launching an 8th inning grand slam off New York reliever Reed Garrett in the midst of a wild week in May; or his walk-off 3-run homer against Pittsburgh.

Bailey intentionally added some winter weight to combat the strain of the long season and help his body with durability. It worked to a certain degree: Bailey had never caught as many games in a season as this year, nor did his defense ever waver. His average exit velocity and hard-hit rate also jumped, and he ended the year on upswing with the bat. An article from Maria Guardado seemed to suggest Bailey felt like the slump was less about fatigue and more about pregame routines and replicating that practiced approach during at-bats. Basically, adjustments. Batting is quite literally hitting a moving target, but that truth applies to approach as well. In order to limit slumps, one has to be willing to try and apply new things when conditions change.

The defensive maturity Bailey displays belies the fact that his career is still pretty green. He’s only got a little over a season’s worth of plate appearances under his belt which explains some of the inconsistencies, be it the summer fall off, or the varying switch-hitting splits (his right-side was much stronger in 2023, his left stronger in 2024). The offense will improve. The highs will hopefully stay consistent, it’s just about limiting the lows.

Honestly, though, whatever he does with a bat is gravy in my book. Watching Bailey still frame a pitch while sliding out from behind home plate as a runner breaks from first, transferring the baseball to his throwing hand like a middle infielder, slinging it down to second, nabbing Elly de la Cruz, Shohei Ohtani, Corbin Carroll — it’s just a blessing. (Steven Kennedy@SCKennedy24 - Oct 22, 2024)

Patrick's defense is his biggest strength. He’s an excellent blocker, and he has advanced lateral quickness and footwork behind the plate. He has a 70 grade for his fielding ability, in part because he moves around better than most catchers. And he has a 50 grade arm. 

Bailey has long stood out for his defense and is easily the best defensive catcher in the Giants system. He’s a plus defender with quick, quiet hands behind the plate and is adept in both receiving and blocking. His average arm strength plays up with his sound footwork and quick release and led him to throw out 30% of attempted base-stealers in 2022.  (Josh Norris - BAPH - Spring 2023)

Similar defensively to Bart, Bailey moves well for a catcher and is an agile receiver and blocker. He exhibits plus arm strength and erased 33 percent of base-stealers in his first pro season. He has strong leadership skills that help him take charge of a pitching staff and he's an advanced game-caller who selected his own pitches in college. (Spring 2022)

Bailey performed well enough behind the plate, where quick mechanics made up for just average arm strength. He’s a solid receiver and blocker and works well with pitchers. (Spring, 2022)

Bailey may be more impressive with his defense than his offense. He's athletic for a catcher, moving well behind the plate while providing solid receiving skills and arm strength. He has all the intangibles teams want in a backstop, exhibits the ability to take charge of a pitching staff and called his own pitches with the Wolfpack. (Spring 2021)

Bailey’s makeup and work ethic jump out as much as his physical abilities. He immediately impressed the Giants with his willingness to learn new pitchers and drew particular praise from Jeff Samardzija for his professionalism. Bailey is a skilled receiver, especially when it comes presenting and handling balls low in the strike zone or in the dirt. He makes strong, accurate throws to the bases, even when letting it fly from his knees. (Josh Norris - Baseball America Prospect Handbook - Spring, 2021)

Even if he doesn't hit, Bailey is a quality defender who should at least serve as a backup. He's more athletic and moves better than most catchers, and he displayed solid receiving skills on a more consistent basis during the shortened 2020 season. He also has the arm strength to keep base-stealers in check. (Spring 2020)

Bailey was the catch-and-throw prospect in the 2020 draft class. He has exceptional hands, blocking ability and he is one of the rare college catchers to call his own game. He has a chance to be a plus-plus (70 grade) defender

But the things Bailey does well go beyond his physical attributes. He was already calling pitches as a high school senior in 2017, and essentially became the quarterback of his team.

“I want to go to my pitcher’s strengths. In the bullpen before the game I want to see what’s working,” Bailey said of his game-calling. “I’m looking at his fastball, seeing how it’s moving and if he’s able to locate it on the glove side. And then with off-speed pitches, looking to see which one is better, the breaking ball or the changeup. And with high school baseball you can’t get a scouting report, so I like to be aggressive and see what they can do with the fastball and just kind of work off of that.”

Bailey understands pitchers, understands hitters and understands counts.

Pitchers love pitching to Patrick. He calls a fantastic game. He has a purpose for every call.

Patrick is a polished receiver. He is a solid pitch framer. And he is an impenetrable wall behind the plate — even though he's not the biggest guy. He's athletic and displays impressive mobility back there.

Bailey has a 55 grade arm, and his throws are accurate.

June 2020: One scout's take on Bailey: “Elite catch-and-throw skills. I don’t like his swing much, but he has hit in the ACC for two years . . . Could be an average power guy and a 40 bat. If you have plus defensive skills that’s an all-star-caliber player . . . I would say he’s the best defensive catcher in the country.”

"We’ve never allowed our catchers to call pitches," Wesleyan coach Scott Davis told the Greensboro News & Record in 2017. "But we made that decision early last year that we were going to let him do that because he’s very capable of doing it. He understands how to attack hitters, and pitchers love throwing to him."

One of Bailey's Wesleyan teammates, pitcher Luke Davis, told the News & Record: "He's such a great receiver back there that he probably steals us at least 10 strikes a game." (D Adler - MLB.com - June 10, 2020)

2022 Season: Bailey won a Minor League Gold Glove Award. 

2021: Bailey dealt with a back injury for about a month.

April 5-June 24: Bailey was on the IL.

Sept 6-13, 2023: Bailey was on the IL with concussion. Bailey entered the 11-8 loss to the Cubs as a defensive replacement, but he suffered a concussion after Jeimer Candelario slid into him at the plate during Chicago's decisive six-run rally in the seventh inning. Manager Gabe Kapler said Bailey felt a little lightheaded after taking a shoulder to the chin on the play.

May 4-11, 2024: Bailey was on the IL with a concussion.