The Giants announced this evening that they’ve designated catcher/outfielder Blake Sabol for assignment. The move clears a roster spot for the signing of Justin Verlander, which has now been made official.
Sabol, who just celebrated his 27th birthday earlier this week, was a seventh-round pick by the Pirates back in 2019 who was plucked from the organization by San Francisco during the 2022 Rule 5 Draft. That locked Sabol into an Opening Day roster spot with the Giants for 2023, and he performed admirably for a player with just 25 games of Triple-A experience under his belt. While splitting time between catcher and left field in 2023, Sabol hit a respectable .235/.301/.394 (91 wRC+) in 344 trips to the plate.
Once the Giants were able to option him to the minors in 2024, however, Sabol was quickly shuttled back to Triple-A and only made a brief cameo in the majors last year. He hit well in those 11 games, however, with a .313/.421/.375 slash line in 38 trips to the plate while helping cover for a Patrick Bailey during a trip to the concussion-related injured list. When in the minors, Sabol struggled offensively with just a .246/.340/.388 slash line at Triple-A that was good for a wRC+ of just 85.
That lackluster performance at Triple-A seemingly made Sabol expendable as a catching depth option in the eyes of president of baseball operations Buster Posey and the Giants’ front office. The club recently claimed catcher Sam Huff off waivers from the Rangers, which may have made Sabol’s presence on the 40-man roster even less necessary. Huff is out of minor league options and can’t be sent to the minors without clearing waivers but can still provide the club with depth behind Bailey and Tom Murphy throughout Spring Training or even be carried on the roster as a third catcher.
Going forward, the Giants will have one week to either work out a trade involving Sabol or expose him to waivers. As an optionable catching depth option, it would hardly be a surprise to see a catching-needy club take the opportunity to pluck Sabol off waivers in hopes of helping him rediscover something closer to the offensive form he showed in 2023, which would make him a roughly average offensive catcher in the majors. If Sabol were to pass through waivers unclaimed, the Giants would have the option of keeping him in the fold as a non-roster depth option for the 2025 season.
Thought it would be Villar.
Yeah, David doesn’t have any options left. I think he’s going to compete for the 2nd base job now.
You’re joking right? 2nd is Fitz. Villar had his chance in the majors and he was awful
Yeah, I think Villar is either a third baseman or at 1b. He doesn’t have the lateral range for second. From the first time I saw him in Spring Training I thought Villar would hit. But not so far.
As for Sabol, there are a number of teams that will want him and I expect the Giants will get something for him before he’s let go.
Villar could be home run champ…in Korea.
Dave
Tyler Fitzgerald says “hi”.
I’m sure he’ll be gone in pretty short order, too.
Yup. Sasaki will need a spot..
May it be so.
He showed plenty of promise in 2023. I’d expect a team like Miami or the White Sox to pick up on the cheap.
Can see Miami taking him the Sox? They have 2 top prospects and a few others like Korey Lee so they don’t need him.
100%!! The Sox are loaded with talent. They don’t need to take on anyone that’s not a proven superstar.
The White Sox have 2 top 100 prospects who are catchers they have Korey Lee who was their starter last year and vets on minor league deals in the fold as well.
They are good catcher wise it’s everything else they need help with.
BadMojo:Thumbs up for the funny sarcasm.
Shoot, put my Padres down as interested… probably.
@Gwynning Agreed. I’d be surprised if AJ hasn’t already called on him.
Red Sox perhaps.
He is a great player. Disappointed to see him go. Should have been villar
A great player might be stretching reality quite a bit.
He can hit, but not much else going on.
Though his defense has gotten better at catcher, but he’s still probably below league average defensively.
In 2023, he started off hot, but iced off rather quickly. In the minors with the Pirates, his bat was pretty consistent. I hope he gets another chance. Also, he is a good catcher and although we didn’t see it in the majors, a good first baseman too. I’m surprised the Pirates didn’t add him to the 40-man roster when they had the chance.
While I don’t think Sabol was a “great” player I do think it should have been Villar instead. Sabol did a nice job in 2023. Villar has been given lots of chances and struggled a lot in the Majors. Good luck to Sabol.
whoooa. Is not expecting the Giants to DFA Sabol.
He was a Farhan guy and he’s can’t field as a catcher. Not enough power or speed to be a corner guy. He was a wasted project.
Oh, he has the power, it’s just there’s still too much swing and miss. But he’ll definitely catch on with another team.
That is NOT Sabol in the picture lmao
Thank you for fixing it
Something was going on behind the scenes. This guy showed a lot of promise his rookie season. But he was relegated to the minors most of 2024 and his AAA numbers weren’t great.
I think he was pouting down in the minors but he didn’t do anything to warrant a promotion. I think he missed Sean Manaea too, who he’d grown close to. Perhaps the Mets will pick him up for a reunion?
Wish you the best Blake! Concentrate on hitting.
I think it was that typical Farhan mentality. No one gets to stay and develop. We need you for today but tomorrow you’re outta here.
The trouble was that he didn’t have a position, and his hit tool was not consistent enough to make up for that. He had one nice spring training two years ago, but he was not able to carry that production into the bigs.
What happened was Farhan signed Murphy to a massive deal last year. Sabol’s metrics as a catcher are also really really bad.
2 years 8mm I would not classify as ‘massive’
I guess it’s hyperbole for Murphy because he’s def not worth 2yr/8m..
dubtastic, Based on what? The 13 games he played before getting hurt? He came to the Giants as one of the best hitting back-up catchers in baseball. A career 107 OPS+ is very good for a catcher. 2/$8M would actually have been a really good deal had he not gotten injured.
Any backup catcher is not worth 4mil..FZ signed Murphy when he could’ve let Bart backup Bailey
“Any backup catcher is not worth 4mil.”
That’s kind of an oblivious statement. Most back-up catchers are guys still under team control, and therefore cheap. Murphy was a FA, and at the time, was a clear upgrade over Bart. When FZ signed Murphy he had a career 107 OPS+ while Bart had a 75 OPS+.
Good points about the team control, makes total sense..
oh no!!!
He’ll never make it through waivers
Too bad – he was a good Giant
Someone will grab him
White Sox will pick up, no doubt-
The White Sox could pick him up but with 2 of their top 6 prospects being catchers I can see Chicago prioritizing 40 man space for another position. I see him getting claimed by the Marlins but in the very highly unlikelihood he makes it far enough down the waiver claim, I could see the Mets trying to snatch him to backup Francisco Alvarez since they have 4 open spots on their 40 man roster. More than likely though he doesn’t make it that far down the waiver claim for them to get him.
Maybe Tampa Bay.
The Cardinals don’t really need another catcher, but I’d like to see them grab him. I’ve been impressed every time I’ve watched him play.
I was just looking at 40 man rosters and with them having 3 already there, could you seeing them carrying a 4th catcher on the 40?
I may be mistaken but aren’t they looking to move Contreras to 1st base? If that is the case I guess Sabol would be a fit in St Louis.
Any catcher with options who has shown an ability to hit at all is likely to get claimed. He’ll have a new home soon.
How is his fielding at catcher?
Very bad. He’s not really good in any way defensively.
Eye test ? Below average.
Has got a passed ball or
three in his game and doesn’t throw out runners. No idea on the framing situation.
It would seem Buster doesn’t rate it either.
He was wasn’t very good as a catcher. He did improve some but not enough to play him there even as a backup. I’ll never forget all the catchers interference violations he had in 2023 especially early in 2023.
Yes. I forgot about them. They were common.
The article lost me on this quote “ Sabol it a respectable .235”. It’s a shocker when a team doesn’t want you anymore at that BA.
What is the BA for catchers across the league? What about backup catchers?
It might be a respectable .235.
My team has been featuring the likes of Nido, McCann, Narvaez, and Patrick Mazeika.
He’s not a catcher. He’s a DH and 1B/OF is a work in progress. Perhaps a bad team needs a left-handed side of the platoon for their DH spot. .258/.326/.427 against RHP isn’t that bad.
I think if he can improve his defense to at least league average, he can certainly be a catcher. He has pop and bats :LH and can play the OF corners.
I thought this was the Giants catcher for the future
How? He was bad behind the plate
Sabol was never the “catcher of the future”. This is the very first time I’ve heard that. He hit 13 HR and 44 RBI IN 331 AT BATS IN 2023. So he hit fairly well to have those stats. Someone will sign him.
He’d be a good hitter if given consistent playing time, but can a team do that with his defensive liabilities ? Not this one.
Same as I thought. It’s also possible there’s a team that thinks they can work/coach him into a decent catcher, because his 2023 offense was decent.
Great move. This guy sucks
I beg to differ.
I think he’d probably be an upgrade to Heineman as Kirk’s backup. Kind of surprised they haven’t upgraded there yet but Sabol would be a cheap alternative.
Kirks’s backup? Bailey you mean?
It is not hard to imagine jdgoat is writing from Toronto’s point of view.
Cubs missed dumpster diving for Carteya, so it’s a lock they will grab him
Kinda odd to let him go. His bat is a lot better than most bench options teams have, and could probably start on some poor lineups like CWS, Miami, even someone like Tampa or KC he could be a platoon/bench guy.
He was decent in the majors in 23(though bad on d), but he turned in a really bad triple a season this year. He was sent down to refine his defensive catching skills, he got worse on both sides
WOW that’s a surprising move. Who is backing up Baliey?
Murphy
Or more likely Huff because Murphy still hasn’t bounced back from his knee injury. His career may be done, unfortunately.
Sabol wasn’t Bailey’s backup last year. Maybe it’s Murphy or Huff.
If he’s recovered from last year’s injury which kept him out almost the full season Murphy will be the backup. Zaidiot signed him to a contract that pays too much. Liked the player but not the contract. I believe Huff will start in AAA. If Murphy is still not completely healthy I believe Huff will be Bailey’s backup.
Huff is out of options so they can’t send him to AAA.
This is the guy they gave up on Joey Bart for.
I don’t think so. Murphy is that guy.
Correct foppert. I believe Bart had 87 at bats in 2023 while Sabol was also there. At one point Bart was the catcher of the future but he just never really put it together amid many chances. Bart had a decent season in 2024 for the Pirates. Heck, maybe Sabol heads to Pittsburgh to be his backup. Afterall Sabol was in the Pirates system when the Giants took him as a rule 5 player. You just never know.
Yeah. I read them as wanting a power option off the bench. Bart wasn’t showing much in that capacity. Went with Murphy in FA.
Pirates have Henry Davis, Endy Rodriguez and Bart, plus a guy in the minors. Sabol won’t be back in Pittsburgh — at least not as a catcher.
No. Because they got Sabol through the Rule 5 draft in 2023 they kept him on the 26 man all year at the expense of Bart. Joey had a slow start and Pat Bailey replaced him as the starter, but there was no room to keep him as a backup. Then got rid of Bart in 2024 for nothing when he had no option
No. Joey Bart was the guy they gave up on Joey Bart for.
Still fairly young, has options, hits well from the longside of a platoon, owns a catcher’s mitt (and a 1B mitt), and has an idea of where to stand in the grass.
Somebody will pick him up in short order; I doubt he makes it to the DBacks, but I’d like to see Hazen put in a claim.
You’re right, Sabol plays multiple positions but he’s below average at all of them. He is a left-handed hitter that has occasional power so he has that going for him. Sabol will sign a minor league deal somewhere and show up late in the summer when a team is in a pinch then I’ll have my, oh that’s where he ended up, moment.
reds could have not lost Fernando cruz and picked up sabol who also can play the outfield, instead of losing a dependable arm like Cruz for an older, lighter hitting catcher who is also not as versatile as sabol
Dependable? Cruz? When he was on , he was effective. When he wasn’t on, he threw BP. I would imagine Krall may tryto get Sabol, as it was the Reds who drafted him in the Rule 5 draft and traded him to the Giants. Giants may want some International Prospect bonus money (for Sasaki?). Reds can accomdate some of that. Sabol would be a good 3rd catcher and play at Louisville this year.
Blake Sabol has Guardians written all over him.
Cleveland originally drafted him but didn’t sign him, a lot of their coaching staff was with the Giants in 2023 (Albernaz, Correa, and now Nakken), and I’m sure Vogt likes the idea of a guy who can occasionally catch and play elsewhere on the field.
For all the Villar haters, he posted an above average OPS in limited action both in 2022 (52 games) and 2024 (11 games). His only real struggles was a stretch from mid April to early May 2023. It was a really bad struggle but when he came back up in June he did well in very limited playing time and struggled a bit in very limited time in July. He’s continued to hit well in AAA and deserves one more chance in the big leagues.
The problem is Villar is behind Chapman and Schmidt and is out of options. I always liked him but I think at this point he probably needs a change of scenery. He didn’t hit when he had his one shot and when you’re not a top prospect you usually only get one shot. Plus the roster is heavy with RH bats. Will always root for him.
If Wilmer Flores is getting a chance to platoon at 1st base/DH, Villar should as well. But I wouldn’t be surprised, if one or both are dfa’d by the end of spring training.
I agree and maybe that will happen. They’ve hung on to him this long. Unfortunately in these situations unless you’re a top prospect the vet usually has an edge over the rook.
That and Flores is only 1 injured year removed from his best offensive year in his career. Villar has proven nothing at the major league level. Flores is looking like a prime bounce back story this year.
You young guys probably won’t understand this, but every time I see this guy’s name I always think of the late Steve Sabol who ran NFL Films forever. I used to always watch the marathon of Super Bowl recaps the night before that year’s Super Bowl. That was back when ESPN was watchable.
He is the kind of player that Mariner ownership would claim to be able to put them over the top.
He was a Kapler guy. Melvin didn’t seem to think much of him.
Watch the Dodgers pick him up and turn him into an All-Star
He has shown that he can hit so Pirates should bring him back to put him in the OF mix since it appears that they don’t want to spend the money for an established OFer.
Deals with Giants seem to work out for them, Reynolds and Bart come to mind.
Sabol is a calamity behind the dish. I’d just take C off his CV and shop him as a 4th OF.
Sabol was by far the worst defensive catcher I have ever seen and I’ve been a die hard Giants fan since the early 70’s.
Blake deserves a break. A new team may help him succeed.