The Giants named Susac to their Opening Day roster Wednesday.
A Rule 5 Draft selection over the winter, Susac was able to beat out Jesus Rodriguez and non-roster invitee Eric Haase for the No. 2 catcher job during spring training. So long as top backstop Patrick Bailey is healthy, Susac will likely play sparingly, and the Giants will need to stash him on the major-league roster throughout the season, or else he'll have to be offered back to the Athletics. The 24-year-old showed some potential with the bat in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League last season with a .275/.350/.486 slash line to go with 18 home runs and seven stolen bases across 403 plate appearances, though he struck out at a 26.8 percent clip.
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Giants' Daniel Susac: Favorite for backup catcher role
Rotowire
Susac is viewed as the favorite to win the Giants' backup catcher job, Maria Guardado of MLB.com reports.
Eric Haase and Jesus Rodriguez are also in the mix to back up Patrick Bailey, though Susac appears likely to earn that role. The 24-year-old catcher was selected by the Athletics with the 19th overall pick in 2022 and has yet to make his big-league debut. He was left unprotected ahead of the Rule 5 Draft in December, and he was selected fourth overall by the Twins before being sent to San Francisco. Through eight Cactus League games with the Giants, Susac has slashed .350/.381/.450 with two runs scored, two doubles and one RBI across 21 plate appearances. He recorded a 26.8 percent strikeout rate with Triple-A Las Vegas last season, so improving his plate discipline and reducing strikeouts will continue to be a point of emphasis.
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Giants' Daniel Susac: Shipped to Giants
Rotowire
The Twins selected Susac with the fourth pick in the Rule 5 Draft on Wednesday and then traded him to the Giants, Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs reports.
Daniel's older brother Andrew was drafted by the Giants in 2011 and played his best two seasons in the majors with San Francisco in 2014 and 2015 as Buster Posey's backup, so it's understandable that Posey, the Giants president of baseball operations, would then trade for the younger Susac. The 24-year-old catcher was the No. 19 overall pick in 2022 and was left unprotected by the Athletics after he slashed .275/.349/.483 with 18 home runs and a 26.8 percent strikeout rate in 97 games in the Pacific Coast League. He is a fine defender, but Susac is a very aggressive hitter who will likely chase and strike out quite a bit if the Giants keep him on the big-league roster this season.
