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In Fighting Over the Minors, What Might Baseball Lose?

C.B. Schmelter/Chattanooga Times Free Press, via Associated Press

When the San Francisco Giants chose catcher Joey Bart second over all in the 2018 draft, the fans in Keizer, Ore., knew what that meant. A decade earlier, they had gotten an early glimpse of another first-round catcher, Buster Posey, who went on to lead the Giants to three World Series titles. Now Posey’s likely successor would play in their town, too.

“They made that connection instantly, and they came from a long way to see Joey Bart play,” said Jerry Walker, who has owned the Class A Salem-Keizer Volcanoes since their inception in 1997.