Roseville native Daniel Susac started Sunday’s exhibition at
Sutter Health Park as he prepares to be the Giants’ backup
catcher for the 2026 season.
It was the
fall of 2014, weeks after 23-year-old catcher Andrew Susac of
Roseville ascended from minor-league catcher to World Series
champion with the San Francisco Giants in just a few months.
During an interview for an eventual Comstock’s Magazine cover
story about his
unlikely rookie season, he made a prediction.
“Watch my brother Daniel,” Andrew
said of his then 13-year-old sibling. “He’s going to be better
than me.”
While Andrew Susac eventually
played 114 games with four different teams — the last with
Pittsburgh in 2010 — 11 years later, Andrew now closely watches
and helps coach Daniel, 25, as he makes a move towards his MLB
debut with the same team as his older brother.
Related: Great
Expectations: The Andrew Susac Story
“He (Andrew) would always say
that,” Daniel Susac says with a laugh Sunday outside his locker
at West Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park, as, in a true family
full-circle moment, was preparing to be the Giants’ starting
catcher in the annual exhibition against the team’s top affiliate
Sacramento River Cats.
Andrew Susac celebrates at first base after getting his first MLB
base hit at then-called AT&T Park in San Francisco on July
30, 2014.
On Wednesday morning in advance
of their season opener at Oracle Park it became official — Daniel
Susac made San Francisco’s final roster after making a huge
impression during spring training. Daniel’s pending MLB debut
came after a whirlwind December that saw the 2022 first-round
Oakland A’s draft pick left unprotected in the
Rule 5 draft, then
grabbed by the Minnesota Twins, before being traded to the Giants
in just a matter of hours.
A near-sellout crowd of 12,479 at Sutter Health Park enjoyed the
80-degree spring evening as the Sacramento River Cats beat the
San Francisco Giants 2-1 in the annual exhibition game to open
the season.
“My brothers told me (about the
Giants trade),” says Daniel, who went to Jesuit High School,
played with the Lincoln Potters summer college team and was
drafted out of the University of Arizona. “They were like, hey, I
think you got traded to the Giants. And then I got a call about
an hour later. We were all excited, pumped up, especially Andrew,
you know, obviously with the roots there.”
At 6-foot-5 and 210 pounds,
whenever he makes his MLB debut, the right-handed batting Daniel
Susac will be one of the tallest catchers to ever play the game.
With the possible Giants backup catcher role behind starter
Patrick Bailey in his sights, Susac had a solid spring training,
with a .300-plus batting average and two home runs in more than
40 plate appearances, impressing Giants’ first-year manager Tony
Vitello, who says he has followed the younger Susac since his
high school days.
River Cats mascot Dinger raises the flag in victory after the
River Cats beat the Giants 2-1 at Sutter Health Park on March 22.
“I think he’s progressed a lot
from when I saw him in high school,” says Vitello, who won the
NCAA championship as the head coach at Tennessee in 2024. “It’s
been fun to watch what he looked like then and what he looks like
now, and also get to know him. He’s a pretty mature kid, which is
a necessity for that position. I think he’s gotten more and more
comfortable, and you’ve seen his personality shine through a
little bit more as of late, and that’s key. We want all of our
guys to be comfortable in their own skin, and, you know, come to
work every day and have fun.”
Daniel Susac ended up getting a
single in three at-bats during the exhibition, as the River Cats
downed the Giants 2-1, with Sacramento riding home runs by Giants
top prospect Bryce Eldridge, who had just been sent down to
Sacramento the day before, and Nate Furman to get the win before
12,479 fans enjoying the 80-degree spring evening.
On the hot seat, Giants’ new manager Tony Vitello takes questions
from reporters before Sunday’s exhibition with the River Cats at
Sutter Health Park.
Heading into a new season the
annual match-up with the River Cats always provides ample
storylines and optimism, especially with 2026 being the second
year of the unprecedented Sutter Health Park sharing arrangement
with the MLB’s Athletics, who plan to play again in Sacramento
next year before moving into a new stadium in Las Vegas for the
2028 season.
Within the Giants organization,
however, this year the focus is on Vitello, the first manager to
come straight from the college ranks without any professional
playing or coaching experience, as he tries to evaluate new
players and take over a franchise that hasn’t made the playoffs
since its 107-win 2021 season.
“It’s been quite chaotic, just to
be honest with you, just because there’s a lot of things going on
leading up to (the opener with the Yankees) Wednesday,” Vitello
says during a pre-game dugout interview with reporters, alluding
to whether he’s maturing in the new job. “Yeah, I would love to
say that I’ve matured a bunch; I think we’re light years away
from that happening, but I think for me, I’ve always considered
myself a little bit of a control freak, but … even more so with
spring training, what I’ve learned is, you’re so much better off
letting other people take weight off your shoulders and to
delegate.”
Fans make some noise at Sutter Health Park during the exhibition
game with the San Francisco Giants and Sacramento River Cats on
Sunday, March 22.
Utilized Sunday in advance of the
MLB season was a new Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System, that
will allow players to appeal home plate umpire ball-and-strike
calls — initiated by a tap of the helmet — using video tracking
technology. ABS technology had been used in different
experimental forms at several minor league parks the past few
years, including at Sutter Health
Park. Teams will have
two challenges by pitchers, catchers or batters per game, with
additional challenges if a call is overturned, adding a new
strategy deciding how calls are disputed.
The Giants’ prized prospect Bryce Eldridge, who had just been
sent down to Sacramento just the day before, gets revenge with a
fourth-inning homer as the River Cats eventually beat their
parent club 2-1.
ABS will be used at Sutter Health
Park during all of the scheduled River Cats and A’s games in
2026. The River Cats open their season at Sutter Health on
Friday, March 27 against El Paso, while the A’s open April 3
against Houston.
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