Giants' Daniel Susac: Could split starts with Bailey
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Giants manager Tony Vitello indicated Thursday that Susac could start splitting starts at catcher with Patrick Bailey, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Susac has made only four starts so far this season, but he's gone 9-for-16 with five RBI in the early going. The Rule 5 pick is likely to get exposed to some degree with additional playing time, but he's earned more reps over Bailey, who is slashing just .136/.191/.136.
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Giants' Daniel Susac: Logs RBI in loss
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Susac went 1-for-3 with an RBI in Sunday's 6-2 loss to the Orioles.
With Patrick Bailey taking a seat for the series finale, Susac got the starting nod for the third time this season. The 24-year-old delivered an RBI single in the fifth, driving in San Francisco's first run. He's gone 7-for-11 with three RBI, a run scored, a triple and a walk across 12 plate appearances so far this season and could continue pushing for increased playing time.
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Giants' Daniel Susac: Tallies three hits in victory
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Susac went 3-for-4 with two RBI, a run scored and a triple in Tuesday's 6-0 win over the Phillies.
With Patrick Bailey getting the night off, Susac made his second big-league start and turned in another impressive performance. The 24-year-old catcher singled in the second inning and added another base hit in the fifth before coming around to score. He also delivered a two-run triple in the eighth, driving in San Francisco's final runs. Across eight plate appearances this season, he has gone 6-for-7 with one walk. While Bailey should continue to see the majority of the reps behind the plate, Susac's strong play to begin the season could result in more playing time. Per Maria Guardado of MLB.com, manager Tony Vitello said, "I think [Susac has] earned the right to be out there for us more often. It's not an easy thing to go out there all the time. ... You'll be seeing plenty of both guys as the season goes on."
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Giants' Daniel Susac: Reaches four times in first MLB start
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Susac went 3-for-3 with a walk Thursday in a 7-2 win against the Mets.
Susac won the Giants' backup catcher role in spring training, but this was the first time he had an opportunity to start (he did enter as a defensive replacement Wednesday). Susac singled in his first MLB plate appearance in the second inning and went on to reach three more times on two additional singles and a walk. Patrick Bailey is entrenched as San Francisco's starting catcher, so Susac probably isn't going to see extensive playing time.
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Giants' Daniel Susac: Wins backup catcher job
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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: Shipped to Giants
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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.
