Patrick Bailey (born May 29, 1999) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professiona ...

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catcher ...

for the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

(MLB). He played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universi ...

, and was selected 13th overall by the Giants in the first round of the

2020 MLB draft The 2020 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft took place on June 10 and 11, 2020. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. The draft order was set based on the reverse order of the 2019 MLB season ...

. He made his MLB debut in May 2023.

Early life

Patrick Bailey was born on May 29, 1999, in

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte, North Car ...

. Bailey attended

Wesleyan Christian Academy Wesleyan Christian Academy is a private Christian school located in High Point, North Carolina, across from the former Oak Hollow Mall complex. Wesleyan Christian Academy is accredited by AdvancED and the Association of Christian Schools Intern ...

('17) in

High Point, North Carolina High Point is a city in the Piedmont Triad region of the U.S. state of North Carolina. Most of the city is in Guilford County, with parts extending into Randolph, Davidson, and Forsyth counties. High Point is North Carolina's only city that ex ...

, where he played catcher for the

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

team. In 2016, he played for the U-18

United States national baseball team The United States national baseball team represents the United States in international-level baseball competitions. The team is currently ranked 5th in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confederation. Team USA won the Olympic baseball to ...

. In 2017, his senior year, he batted .510/.561/.947 with 13 doubles, seven triples, five

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run is ...

s, and 33

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...

(RBIs) in 96 at bats. He was drafted by the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area ...

in the 37th round of the

2017 Major League Baseball draft The 2017 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft began on June 12, 2017. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The first 36 picks, including the first round and compensatory picks, were broadcast on MLB Network on ...

, but did not sign and instead chose to fulfill his commitment to play college baseball at

College career

In 2018, Bailey's freshman year at NC State, he

slashed ''Slashed'' is a low budget independent horror film, financed and directed by Ash and written by Jed Shepherd.

.321/.419/.604 (fourth in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC)) with 13 home runs (an NC State freshman record) and 40 RBIs, earning AC Freshman of the Year honors alongside being named a Freshman-All American and to the All-ACC Second Team. He was named a Freshman All-American by First Team D1Baseball,

NCBWA The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) is an association of baseball writers, broadcasters, and publicists in the United States. It was founded in 1962. The NCBWA compiles a preseason ranking of the top 35 teams in the nat ...

& Perfect Game, and ''

Collegiate Baseball ''Collegiate Baseball Newspaper'' (also known as ''Collegiate Baseball Magazine'' and ''Collegiate Baseball'') is an American publication based in Arizona that considers itself the "voice of amateur baseball" which has been published for over 40 y ...

,'' and selected as a member of the ABCA All-Region Team. After the 2018 season, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operate ...

with the

Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox The Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox, or Y-D Red Sox, are a collegiate summer baseball team based in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's East Division. The Red Sox play thei ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thous ...

. He was also selected for the United States collegiate national team. As a sophomore in 2019, Bailey batted .288/.390/.513 with three triples (eighth in the ACC) and 10 home runs alongside a .989

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, div ...

. He was named to the All-ACC First Team, ABCA’s Atlantic All-Region Team, USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team, and third team All-American by ''Collegiate Baseball'', and was one of 14 semifinalists for the

Buster Posey Award The Buster Posey Award, formerly known as the Johnny Bench Award, was created in 2000 to honor college baseball's top catcher in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The award is administered by the Greater Wichita Area Spo ...

, as the nation's best catcher. That summer, he again played for the United States collegiate national team. As a junior in 2020, he hit .296/.466/.685 in 54 at bats. He hit six home runs (fourth in the ACC), 20 RBIs (second), and 17 walks (third) over 17 games before the college baseball season was cut short due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

Professional career

Draft and minor leagues

Bailey was selected by the

in the first round with the 13th overall selection of the

2020 Major League Baseball draft The 2020 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft took place on June 10 and 11, 2020. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. The draft order was set based on the reverse order of the 2019 MLB season ...

. He signed with the Giants for a

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

of $3.8 million. He did not play a minor league game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the

. Bailey made his professional debut in 2021 with the

Eugene Emeralds The Eugene Emeralds (nicknamed the Ems) are a Minor League Baseball team in the northwest United States, based in Eugene, Oregon. The Emeralds are members of the Northwest League and are affiliated with the San Francisco Giants. Eugene plays their ...

of the

High-A West The Northwest League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Northwestern United States and Western Canada. A Class A Short Season league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Basebal ...

. After slashing .185/.290/.296 with two home runs and 15 RBIs over 33 games, he was demoted to the Rookie-level

Arizona League Giants Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Four ...

on June 26, but was reassigned to the

San Jose Giants The San Jose Giants are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Located in San Jose, California, the Giants play their home games at Excite Ballpark. Games San Jose Giants g ...

of the

Low-A West The California League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in California. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following Major Leag ...

after two games. Over 47 games with San Jose to finish the season, Bailey slashed .322/.416/.531 with seven home runs, 24 RBIs, and 16 doubles, and caught 48% of attempted base-stealers. He was selected to play in the

Arizona Fall League The Arizona Fall League (AFL) is an off-season sports league owned and operated by Major League Baseball (MLB) which operates during the autumn in Arizona, United States, at six different baseball complexes. Arizona Fall League rosters are fi ...

for the

Scottsdale Scorpions The Scottsdale Scorpions are a baseball team that plays in the East Division of the Arizona Fall League. They play their home games in Scottsdale, Arizona, at Scottsdale Stadium, which is also the spring training facility of the San Francisco G ...

after the season where he batted .292/.375/.417 in 48 at bats, and was named to the Fall Stars Game. Bailey returned to Eugene for the 2022 season. Over 83 games, he hit .225/.342/.420 in 267 at bats with 12 home runs, 51 RBIs, and 49 walks (eighth in the league), while leading the league with seven sacrifice flies and on defense catching 30% of attempted base-stealers. He was named the 2022 MiLB Gold Glove as the best defensive catcher in the minor leagues, an NWL post-season All Star, and an MiLB.com organization All Star. To open the 2023 season, he was assigned to the

Richmond Flying Squirrels The Richmond Flying Squirrels are a Minor League Baseball team based in Richmond, Virginia. The team, which is a part of the Eastern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants major league club, and plays at The Diamond. Th ...

of the Double-A Eastern League. After hitting .333/.400/.482 in 60 plate appearances across 14 games, Bailey was promoted to the Triple-A

Sacramento River Cats The Sacramento River Cats are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and are the Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Prior to 2015, the River Cats were the Triple-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics for 15 yea ...

, where he posted a .216/.317/.353

slash Slash may refer to: * Slash (punctuation), the "/" character Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Slash (Marvel Comics) * Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'') Music * Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band * Nash th ...

with 2 home runs and 6 RBIs across 14 games.

San Francisco Giants (2023–present)

On May 19, 2023, Bailey was selected to the

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, and ...

and promoted to the major leagues for the first time. On May 21, 2023, Bailey hit his first major league home run in a 7–5 win over the Miami Marlins. On August 1, 2023, Bailey – after entering the prior inning as a defensive replacement – ended a game with the a walk-off pick-off from his knees, catching Diamondback

Geraldo Perdomo Geraldo Rafael Perdomo (born 22 October 1999) is a Dominican professional baseball shortstop for the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2021. He was named to his first MLB All-Star Game in 2023 and help ...

on first base with two outs in the ninth

inning In baseball, softball, and similar games, an inning is the basic unit of play, consisting of two halves or frames, the "top" (first half) and the "bottom" (second half). In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other tea ...

in a one-run game, with the fastest

pop time Pop time, also known as POP, is a baseball statistic that measures the time it takes for a catcher to make a throw from home plate to second base during a stolen base attempt. The measure combines catcher's footwork (the time to get into throwing ...

(1.39 seconds) to first base on a successful

pickoff In baseball, a pickoff is an act by a pitcher or catcher, throwing a live ball to a fielder so that the fielder can tag out a baserunner who is either leading off or about to begin stealing the next base. A pickoff attempt occurs when this thro ...

throw in the

Statcast Statcast is a high-speed, high-accuracy, automated tool developed to analyze player movements and athletic abilities in Major League Baseball (MLB). Statcast was introduced to all thirty MLB stadiums in 2015, a year now considered the beginning ...

era (since 2015). On August 13, he caught

Ezequiel Duran Ezequiel is a given name. Notable people with the name include: People *Ezequiel Adamovsky (born 1971), Argentine historian and political activist *Ezequiel Alejo Carboni (born 1979), is an Argentine midfielder * Ezequiel Andreoli (born 1978), A ...

of Texas trying to steal, to send the game into extra innings, with the fastest pop time (1.71 seconds) to second base recorded by an MLB catcher so far in 2023; it was the fastest pop time to second base by a Giants catcher under Statcast (from 2015), and he had each of the top 14 pop times on that list.

References

External links

NC State Wolfpack bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Patrick 1999 births Living people Arizona Complex League Giants players Baseball players from Greensboro, North Carolina Eugene Emeralds players Major League Baseball catchers NC State Wolfpack baseball players Richmond Flying Squirrels players Sacramento River Cats players San Francisco Giants players San Jose Giants players Scottsdale Scorpions players United States national baseball team players Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox players