Photo: Chris Arjoon/Icon Sportswire

We’ve been on top of Patrick Bailey’s defensive excellence since first writing about him just five weeks into his MLB career. He’d saved 7 Runs in his first 26 games in the majors, which seemed notable. It was foreshadowing what was to come.

Bailey, the 2025 Fielding Bible Defensive Player of the Year, led all catchers with 19 Defensive Runs Saved this season. Since 2023 he leads all catchers and ranks second among players in Runs Saved.

Bailey’s specialty is pitch framing. He has more Runs Saved from pitch framing since 2023 than any other catcher has total Runs Saved. He steals strikes at the top and bottom edges of the zone, and on his glove side well better than the MLB average. He doesn’t necessarily dominate when it comes to stopping stolen bases and blocking pitches, but he’s better than average at both.

Giants GM Zach Minasian threw in one other thing about Bailey that’s a little harder to quantify: “A knack for managing pitchers and calling tough games with conviction.”

We caught up with Bailey this week. Here’s what he had to say about his 2025 season.

Mark: Hey Patrick. Congratulations.

Patrick: Thank you

Mark: So this is your second Fielding Bible Award, your first Player of the Year award from us. What was this season like for you overall from a defensive perspective?

Patrick: It was good. Obviously winning the award in 2024 was, was awesome and a cool opportunity. But, one thing that my catching coach Alex Burg and I wanted to work on was how do I continue to develop and get better. It was cool to be able to do that this year as well.

Mark: We last spoke to you in June 2023. We were quite impressed with how you were catching right from the get-go. What’s changed for you since then?

Patrick: Receiving-wise, not a ton. You’re just trying to present each pitch as well as you can and give an umpire the best look.

Blocking’s probably been the biggest change for me back to ’23. Getting out to a (one-knee down) kickstance has helped me with the blocking.

Mark: Where do you feel you are defensively at this point? How much better can you get?

Patrick: I don’t know, but the goal is to find little ways to continue to develop. And obviously a big part of my responsibility is working with pitchers and getting the best out of them. Game calling keeps advancing. There’s a ton of little things that catchers have the opportunity to get better at.

Mark: Game calling is continuing to advance. How so?

Patrick: Just with the amount of information we get as teams, with the advance scouting reports just finding the best ways for your pitchers to have success.

And just balancing pitcher strengths and hitter strengths.

Mark: It seemed like Logan Webb bought into you right away. You had a start with him, I think it was your first or second start as a catcher that went particularly well for him.

What is it like to try to catch him?

Patrick: Yeah. It’s awesome. He’s been one of the best pitchers in baseball. It’s been really cool to see him just continuing to grow and get better as well over the years with his progression adding the cutter and more four-seams.It’s a lot of fun to game plan. As much as his ball moves, it’s a challenge, but it’s fun to be back there and catch him.

Mark: What was it like to catch Justin Verlander?

Patrick: It was incredible, man. He’s a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer. Seeing how detail oriented he is with scouting, I think it really opened my eyes and it something that will help me continue to grow. The attention to detail he has is pretty incredible.

Not pitching to his standards early on, but just continuing to get better and just how well that he finished, it was incredible to see the journey. He was an awesome teammate through all of that as well.

Mark: What about Robbie Ray?

Patrick: Robbie’s awesome. He’s the simplest of the pitchers I’ve caught, just like here’s my best stuff, good luck trying to hit it, and if you do, you’re not going to get me next time.

Mark: Who are the people that have most influenced you in terms of your success as a catcher?

Patrick: My catching coach now, Alex Burg has been a huge help. Craig Albernaz was working with catchers when I was drafted by the Giants in 2020. He changed pretty much everything I did as soon as I got drafted. I wouldn’t be where I am today without them. And then (former major leaguer) Scott Bankhead was the guy who owned the North Carolina Baseball Academy where I trained. He let me catch a ton of his pitching lessons when I was 12, 13, 14 years old. I got a pretty early understanding of what coaching looks like, what pitching looks like, and learning the game from that perspective.

Mark: What would you tell a kid who wanted to catch like you, a kid who was going to that facility now?

Patrick: Oh goodness. Just all this stuff you hear. Keep working hard. Put in the work and effort. Never feel like you know it all. I continue to learn and try to get better at as well. Catch as much as you can.

I feel like that’s something like as a young person that I was fortunate to be able to do is just catch a lot and catch a lot of older guys that were throwing pretty hard. I feel like that helped my comfort level pretty quickly.

Mark: One hitting question: You had an inside the park walk-off home run that pinged off the high brick wall in Oracle Park, and took essentially the perfect carom for you to get a home runs. What do you remember about that moment?

Patrick I remember being tired. No doubt about that man. That was awesome. That was a miracle. To have that as something to remember in my career is pretty special.

Mark: Yep. An indefensible batted ball hit by the guy who is the best in defense in 2025. Patrick Bailey, congratulations again and best of luck.

Patrick: Thank you.