San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler recently discussed the club’s current catching situation following San Francisco’s signing of Gary Sanchez on a minor league deal. Kapler told reporters (including Maria Guardado of MLB.com) that the club views the Sanchez signing as “a good opportunity for us to add some depth on a guy that we feel like has a chance to make a contribution at the Major League level at some point.”
If Sanchez is going to contribute to the major league Giants this season, it will likely come before May 1, when he will have the opportunity to opt out of his deal with the club if he hasn’t already been added to the team’s active roster. Still, that outcome certainly seems to be within the realm of possibility. Though the Giants opened the season with three catchers on their roster, they have previously indicated that their current catching situation may not stick deep into the season.
Rule 5 pick Blake Sabol’s positional versatility will hold less value when outfielders Austin Slater and Mitch Haniger are ready to return from the injured list. Meanwhile, Joey Bart, who the Giants selected with the second overall pick of the 2018 draft, has struggled throughout his MLB career to this point. He’s posted a wRC+ of just 84 in 133 big league games, with a whopping 38% strikeout rate. Kapler noted Bart could still be a significant part of the club’s future in spite of his past struggles saying “it’s absolutely the best outcome” if the 26-year-old is able to establish himself as the Giants’ everyday catcher going forward. However, with Bart dealing with back tightness to open the season and the club’s fluid catching situation, it’s an open question whether or not he’ll be able to do that early in this season.
All that potentially opens the door for Sanchez, a bat-first catcher who Kapler notes has been improving on defense in recent years and could complement the glove-first Roberto Perez nicely in a potential catching tandem, should the Giants indeed shift to a roster that features only two catchers later this season.
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