SF Giants Re-Signing Catcher Chadwick Tromp

After adding reliever Matt Wisler earlier in the day, the SF Giants have finalized a deal with catcher Chadwick Tromp, according to his Twitter.

Catcher Chadwick Tromp took to Twitter on Tuesday and announced that he will be returning to the SF Giants organization in 2021. While he did not reveal the specifics of his agreement with the team, he wrote, “GIANTS NATION!! Now that the details are finalized I cant wait to go get more WWWWWWWWWW! LETS GO BABY!”

Tromp was probably the team’s most surprising non-tender last week, but his foray into free agency appears to be short-lived. Henry Schulman of The San Francisco Chronicle had previously reported that Tromp had verbal agreements to return to the organization on minor-league contracts.

Given how light the Giants are on catching depth, they were definitely in the market for another catcher, and bringing back Tromp made a lot of sense. With that being said, the Giants will likely invite several more backstops to Spring Training in March.

The details of Tromp’s deal are not yet known, but it is likely a minor-league pact with an invite to Spring Training. Still the timing of the deal matters. If he has already agreed to a minor-league deal he could be drafted in the upcoming Rule 5 Draft. However, it seems likely that the two sides have reached an agreement that will be made official after the Rule 5 Draft.

Before joining the Giants in 2020, Tromp spent his entire career with the Cincinnati Reds organization. In seven minor league seasons, he registered a .257/.321/.381 line with 23 home runs and 155 RBI. It bears mentioning that his numbers improved as he rose through the minor league levels suggesting that he may still have some development left to realize.

Tromp made his major league debut in 2020 after signing with the Giants in the offseason on a minor league deal. In 64 plate appearances, he slashed .213/.219/.426 with four home runs and ten RBI while proving to be a slightly above-average pitch-framer.

Furthermore, the right-handed bat registered a 1.6 percent walk rate against a 31.3 percent strikeout rate in 2020. In a small sample, the 25-year-old showed off just enough with the glove and the bat that could enable him to carve out a long-term career as a reserve. On top of this, it looked like he was an easy player to coach, and the Giants front office likely observed this as well. Our own Marc Delucchi argued that he deserved a guaranteed MLB contract.

While the hit tool leaves a little to be desired, but he flashed enough power to generate value with the bat.

The SF Giants remain light on catching depth at the upper minor league ranks and will probably bring in some more upper-minor league backstops. However, they solidified their corp by retaining Chadwick Tromp.