Giants catcher Austin Wynns has accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Sacramento, according to Maria I. Guardado of MLB.com. President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi had previously implied Wynns went through waivers unclaimed after being designated for assignment last week to make room for Michael Conforto on the 40-man roster, and expressed hope that Wynns would stay in the organization to compete for the backup catcher job in Spring Training.
Wynns arrived in San Francisco after being acquired from the Phillies in early June in exchange for left-hander Michael Plessmeyer and cash, and immediately took a role on the big league club following Joey Bart’s demotion to Triple-A. Wynns went on to appear in 65 games for the Giants in 2022, slashing a decent .241/.315/.356 (93 wRC+) across 177 plate appearances in that time. While those results are 7% below those of an average major-league hitter, that’s still more than enough to be an acceptable catching option at the big league level; that same 93 wRC+ ranked 23rd among all catchers last year (min. 170 PA).
While his offensive numbers last year cast him as a serviceable backstop in the big leagues, Wynns is not without potential warts. Prior to the 2022 season, he had played parts of three seasons with the Orioles, and slashed just .216/.255/.326 (55 wRC+) in that time. Combined with an wOBA (.298) in 2022 that outstripped his xwOBA (.267) by a considerable amount, and it’s easy to wonder how sustainable his step forward offensively last year was. Additionally, Wynns celebrated his 32nd birthday last month, an age by which many catchers begin to suffer from decline due to the demands of their position.
Still, there’s more than enough positives for the Giants to give him a shot at earning the backup job behind Bart in 2023. Catcher of the future Patrick Bailey hit well in High-A last year, but seems unlikely to impact the big leagues until 2024, leaving Rule 5 draftee Blake Sabol as the main competition for Wynns this spring, assuming the Giants don’t add a veteran like Jorge Alfaro on a minor-league deal at some point down the line.
Bring up Brett Auerbach already!
Why? His 32% K rate in AA and the fact that he’s a better infielder than catcher are uninspiring.
I’d prefer to see Genoves after the all-star break.
I’m in this line as well
I think Auerbach is going to be fun to watch, if he makes it to the show
Austin Loses
Actually he Wynns
People were so concerned about the Giants catchers. All that hand-wringing over nothing.
Is Joey Bart cooked? I thought he was a legit catching prospect
Not cooked, but his advanced offensive skills so far are not very advanced and his K rate is frightening.
He’s at the top of the depth chart at catcher without a serious threat to his position, so the Giants brass don’t seem to think he’s cooked. Not to mention, he’s had 408 ABs. There’s still plenty of time for him to turn into a big leaguer.
Not cooked at all. Potential is there for him to become a star.
Since when does hitting .225 in A+ considered to be hitting well? Patrick Bailey has been subpar so far on offense. Let’s hope he can hit better this year.
I look for Patrick Bailey to e called up sometime this year. Former #1 pick, he won a Gold Glove this past year and is 23.
He’s a year removed from being demoted to A-, I’d be surprised if he’s called up before mid 2024.
Bailey has only had 2 years in pro ball. If you look at his cumulative stats so far, they’re fine. This year he’ll probably start out in Eugene then go to Richmond, then maybe Sacto in September. He’s a line drive hitter with a minor league Gold Glove. The Giants are hoping he projects to be a Jason Kendall type.
He’s more Austin Hedges than Jason Kendall right now…
No one is saying he’s a bust, but when you’re taken number 2 overall, you profile to be a bit better than what he’s shown on both sides of the ball…even in the minors.
He killed it in the Minors. He hit .290 with with 40 hr & 138 rbi in less than 800 at bats. That’s a hr every 20 at bats. So if he gets 500 ab’s this year, that’s 25 hr. He came into the league as the #2 overall draft pick, he’s replacing a legend, while having to learn new pitchers. Like he hasn’t even had 1 full season of MLB ab’s & people want to say he’s a bust. I think the way he handled his demotion to AAA & having to replace Buster, he’s doing fine. Obviously the strike outs need to decrease, which I’m sure he’s fully aware of, I’m just saying…give the kid a chance
thats still not killing it, what Vaun Brown did this past year in the minors is killing it…
This is exactly what I predicted would probably happen. So I’m not surprised in the least. This is a good move for the Giants imo.
This could be the route the Mets go with Ruf if they sign one of the available free agent bats. They could give him the opportunity in Spring Training to compete with Vientos and Alvarez for an opening day roster spot. Both Vientos and Alvarez are candidates to return to Syracuse to start the season, more to develop defensively than offensively.
This is good news. I was disappointed the Giants DFA’ed Wynns given his production last year and lack of MLB ready catchers on the team. Now, they can see what they have in Sabol and if it doesn’t work out send him back to Pitt and select Wynns.
There’s always a trade possibility too. Atlanta has an extra catcher and SF has a good trading relationship with AA.
Bart is going to get an opportunity to be the full time 1A catcher this season and he deserves as long a look as possible. It’s kind of insane to me that after less than a full season of MLB at bats people are already declaring him a confirmed bust. I think he not only keeps the job, but is at minimum an above average offensive catcher by the end of the season.
He had a month where he looked right. Hitting coach had him make adjustments. He made them. Looked better IMO. But the mendoza line was always close.