The Giants announced that catcher Daniel Susac has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to April 20th, due to right elbow neuritis. He’ll miss about two to three weeks, per Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. Catcher Eric Haase has been selected to take his place on the active roster. To open a 40-man spot for Haase, right-hander José Buttó has been transferred to the 60-day injured list.
Susac was picked up in the Rule 5 draft, via an intermediary. The Twins took him from the Athletics and then flipped him to the Giants for minor leaguer Miguel Caraballo. The Giants had Patrick Bailey lined up as their catcher but Susac and Haase battled for the backup job.
In the end, Susac won the job and has been on a tear. He has a .478/.500/.652 line through his first 24 big league plate appearances. He wasn’t going to hit like that forever, especially with a .550 batting average on balls in play, but the Giants really needed that. Most of the rest of the lineup has been struggling, including Bailey. He is considered by many to be the best defensive catcher in the game but has never been much of a threat from the batter’s box. He has a .226/.283/.331 line in his career and is at .151/.211/.151 this year.
Susac’s strong showing and the general underperformance of the lineup, including Bailey, were seemingly leading to more playing time for Susac. That will be on pause for the next few weeks. Though Susac was due for some regression, it’s still not ideal for him to hit the IL when the club is struggling to score runs.
Haase will jump onto the roster and see if he can make up some of the slack. When Susac won the Opening Day job, Haase was granted his release but then quickly re-signed on a new minor league deal. He has appeared in nine Triple-A games this year with a .250/.300/.472 line.
His best attribute is his power. He had a 22-homer season with the Tigers back in 2021 and has 48 home runs in 1,224 career plate appearances. However, his offense is otherwise poor. His 30.7% career strikeout rate is quite high and he’s been above 40% since the start of 2024. His 6.2% career walk rate is also subpar. Despite the long balls, his career .228/.278/.396 line translates to an 85 wRC+, indicating he’s been 15% worse than the league average hitter.
That’s not necessarily disastrous for a catcher since backstops are usually about 10% below the rest of the league. For a backup catcher, the threshold of respectability is even lower. Unfortunately, Haase isn’t considered a strong defender. He has a minus-12 grade from Defensive Runs Saved in his career behind the plate. Statcast has considered him around par in terms of throwing but below average with blocking and framing.
Haase is out of options and could get squeezed back off the roster when Susac comes back. For now, he’ll try to support Bailey as the Giants try to find some momentum. They’re currently 9-13, with the Mets the only club with fewer runs scored so far. The Giants are hosting the 16-6 Dodgers for a three-game set beginning tonight.
Photo courtesy of Geoff Burke, Imagn Images
Du Hasse mich
Welp, he had a good run
Nice to see Haase get another chance, I hope he can make the most of it.
Why not bring up Rodriguez who’s been raking?
Xenophobia?
So much DL action!
So much for Susac taking over for Bailey.