San Francisco Giants: Former All-Star Stephen Vogt to join roster

It looks like the San Francisco Giants will be making a change at the backup catcher spot, with former All-Star Stephen Vogt set to be promoted from Triple-A on Wednesday.

The San Francisco Giants are adding a former All-Star to the roster.

Veteran catcher Stephen Vogt will have his contract selected from Triple-A on Wednesday, and while no corresponding roster move has been announced, there’s a good chance this will spell the end of the Erik Kratz era.

As mentioned in that tweet, Vogt had major shoulder surgery last May, and there was some question whether he would ever return to the big leagues.

He signed a minor league deal with the Giants in February as part of an onslaught of non-roster invitees at the position and stuck around to play at Triple-A when he didn’t win a spot on the Opening Day roster.

The 34-year-old is hitting .241/.389/.500 with three doubles and four home runs in 72 plate appearances, and he’s thrown out 2-of-12 base stealers. That’s not great, but also not insignificant considering the biggest concern regarding his return was his ability to throw post-surgery.

The Giants are just hoping he can be an improvement over the aforementioned Kratz, who is hitting a paltry .133/.235/.300 in 34 plate appearances over 13 games.

Finding a way to get Buster Posey more consistent rest will be crucial if they hope to get the most out of their veteran starter, and a healthy Vogt could prove capable of handling a couple of starts per week.

Prior to missing last season, Vogt played well with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2017 after he was claimed off waivers from Oakland in June. In 45 games, he posted a 100 OPS+ with seven doubles, eight home runs and 20 RBI in 129 plate appearances.

Before that, he was an AL All-Star in 2015 and 2016, accumulating 5.7 WAR during that two-year span while endearing himself to the Oakland fan base.

The Giants really have nothing to lose at this point, given how poorly Kratz has performed at the plate. This could wind up being a nice under-the-radar move that provides some additional depth to the lineup and another veteran voice in the clubhouse.