{"id":180325,"date":"2026-02-16T17:20:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T17:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/180325\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T17:20:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T17:20:17","slug":"sf-giants-2026-spring-training-preview-catchers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/180325\/","title":{"rendered":"SF Giants 2026 spring training preview: catchers"},"content":{"rendered":"

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. \u2014 Fielding Run Value is a metric that attempts to quantify a player\u2019s measurable defensive performance. It cannot quantify the intangibles of catching, such as leadership or pitch calling, but it\u2019s one of the best contemporary means of assessing value with the glove.<\/p>\n

Since Patrick Bailey made his debut, he has been worth +79 FRV, the most in baseball. How good is that? The player in second is the Toronto Blue Jays\u2019 Alejandro Kirk at +50. The difference between Bailey and Kirk at first and second is the same as the difference between second and 32nd place.<\/p>\n

This is all to say the Giants have a two-time Gold Glove Award-winning<\/a>\u00a0generational defender behind the dish, and when the offseason rolled around, finding a starting catcher wasn\u2019t exactly a priority.<\/p>\n

As for Bailey\u2019s backup? Now that\u2019s more of a compelling topic.<\/p>\n

Additions: Daniel Susac (Trade), Eric Haase (MiLB Contract)<\/p>\n

Subtractions: Andrew Knizner (DFA), Tom Murphy (Free Agent), Max Stassi (Free Agent)<\/p>\n

Projected Position WAR Ranking<\/a>: 3rd<\/p>\n

Bailey\u2019s defense has been discussed ad nauseam, so this preview will center mainly around the candidates for backup catcher. Before that, a quick word on Bailey\u2019s bat.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old had the worst offensive season of his career, with lows in batting average (.222), on-base percentage (.277), slugging percentage (.325) and OPS+ (73). As bad as the season looked, he finished the year with some juice.<\/p>\n

In August and September, Bailey had a .678 OPS over 48 games \u2014 not great, but not categorically awful for a catcher. In September, he had an .814 OPS over 24 games. He remains dedicated to switch-hitting, and perhaps his tweaked stance as a right-handed hitter could bring better results against left-handed pitchers.<\/p>\n

Bailey doesn\u2019t need to be an offensive threat like Rafael Devers, Willy Adames and Matt Chapman. If he\u2019s even in the neighborhood of being a league-average hitter, he has a legitimate case for being the second-best catcher in baseball behind the Seattle Mariners\u2019 Cal Raleigh.<\/p>\n

So, with Bailey\u2019s spot behind the plate solidified, who do the Giants select as his backup?\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

There\u2019s Daniel Susac<\/a>, who was selected by the Minnesota Twins from the Athletics in the Rule 5 Draft, then traded to San Francisco.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s Jesus Rodriguez<\/a>, who was acquired in the trade that sent Camilo Doval to the New York Yankees at last year\u2019s trade deadline.<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s Eric Haase, the veteran who has spent parts of eight seasons in the majors.<\/p>\n

The other catchers in camp include Logan Porter, who played four games for the Giants last season, and Diego Cartaya, the former top prospect in the Los Angeles Dodgers\u2019 system who stalled in the minors.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is just that: competition,\u201d said manager Tony Vitello. \u201cYou have varying degrees of experience back there. Susac comes from a very good baseball family. I think one thing we talked about \u2026 is the importance of rapport and character, how you go about your business back there. Haase has a strong reputation for that. So, right now, it\u2019s kind of fun. Options are always a good thing. I think we have some back there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Giants could complement a glove-first catcher like Bailey with a bat-centric backup. Rodriguez, who has a career .309 batting average in the minors, certainly fits that bill. But when asked about what he prioritizes, Vitello went with the glove.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy background has always been defense first with that position,\u201d Vitello said. \u201cMy college career started being a pitching coach, and rather than blame the pitchers if something went wrong, I would just blame the catchers. It\u2019s kind of an easy way out.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the defensive front, Susac and Haase have the edge.<\/p>\n

Haase hasn\u2019t graded out well defensively in the majors, with a -21 Fielding Run Value in his career, but he\u2019s caught over 2,000 innings in the majors. Susac is unique in that he\u2019s a taller catcher at 6-foot-4, but he has a plus arm and has been a full-time catcher his entire professional career.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez didn\u2019t get a ton of reps in the Yankees\u2019 minor-league system because their farm was filled with catchers. His bat was good enough that he played around the diamond, but he lacks experience compared to Susac and Haase. Rodriguez\u2019s best path to developing defensively might be starting the season with Triple-A Sacramento, where he can catch more often than as the backup in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good opportunity to compete,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cI feel like everybody here is going to get better and try to get that spot, but for me, it\u2019s just being better every day, be better than I was yesterday. If the team gives me the opportunity to be the backup catcher, I\u2019ll be happy with it. If not, I\u2019ll go wherever they send me and keep doing my job.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Vitello has preached competition, one of the biggest factors that will ultimately decide this battle is status.<\/p>\n

Susac is a Rule 5 Draft pick<\/a>, which means he was directly assigned to the Giants\u2019 26-man roster when the team acquired him. He must remain there for the entire year, and to remove Susac from the roster, the Giants must place him on waivers. If no one claims him, he\u2019s off the 40-man and offered back to his original team for half of the $100,000 selection fee.<\/p>\n

The Giants are not beholden to rostering Susac, but his Rule 5 status makes him the favorite to win a spot on the Opening Day roster. Rodriguez has minor-league options; Haase is a non-roster invite.<\/p>\n

Would that be an anticlimactic way of determining a roster spot compared to six weeks of fiery competition? Maybe. Still, Susac\u2019s inclusion on the Opening Day roster would make for a fun full-circle moment.<\/p>\n

In 2014 and \u201815, Andrew Susac served as Buster Posey\u2019s backup catcher. More than a decade later, Posey is running the show as the team\u2019s president of baseball operations, and Daniel Susac stands to make his debut with his brother\u2019s first team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. \u2014 Fielding Run Value is a metric that attempts to quantify a player\u2019s measurable defensive performance.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180326,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[2135,184,7,23726,402,181,1334,395,101,396,4820,103,102,104,106,105,127],"class_list":{"0":"post-180325","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-bay-area","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-giants-hq","12":"tag-inside-sports","13":"tag-latest-headlines","14":"tag-mlb","15":"tag-peninsula","16":"tag-san-francisco","17":"tag-san-francisco-county","18":"tag-san-francisco-giants","19":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","20":"tag-san-francisco-news","21":"tag-sf","22":"tag-sf-headlines","23":"tag-sf-news","24":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}