San Francisco Giants 2017 Player Review: The Catchers

Since Hector Sanchez’s official departure from the City by the Bay following the 2015 season, the Giants have searched for a viable backup backstop, albeit to no avail. Unsatisfied with the franchises in-house options which they trotted out in the post-Sanchez years, San Francisco signed Hundley to a one-year, $2 million deal in January. With Trevor Brown and Tim Federowicz as the team’s only other options, Hundley, the only catcher of the bunch with success against major league pitching, ran away with the backup job. 

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Hundley’s shiny nine home runs off the bench were definitely a crowd pleaser, and while the catcher’s overall offensive numbers fall well short of even average, cheap backups who can hit even close to a league-average level don’t grow on trees.

Hundley may have been able to total almost as many long balls while playing half his games at AT&T Park as he did during his time with the Colorado Rockies, but the veteran had arguably the worst season of his career, recording a career-low walk rate, second-lowest wRC+, and his second-highest strikeout rate.

The 34-year-old’s production wasn’t awe-inspiring by any stretch of the imagination, but Hundley opened a fair amount of eyes by winning the Willie Mac Award in his first season with the squad, a testament to his veteran presence.

Next: Giants Offseason Target JD Martinez

Here are all of our 2017 Grades so far:

• Outfield
• Infield
• Starters
• Bullpen
• Management-coming soon!