Daniel Susac is finally fulfilling SF Giants' wish after Patrick Bailey trade

SF Giants rookie catcher Daniel Susac has turned heads in recent days after blasting his first and second MLB home runs on Wednesday. He followed that up with his third career big fly on Thursday in San Diego so his power is finally showing up. Susac had been cold at the plate for a while, but the fact that he's heating up and his defense has been on par with that of Patrick Bailey's shows the Giants are finally seeing the version of Susac they envisioned.

For those who haven't been covering the memory of this season with the dirt left behind from the hole the Giants continue to dig, keep in mind Daniel Susac had a historic start to his career.

The rookie went 5 for 5 in his first two games with the SF Giants becoming the first Giants player to do so and the first MLB player since Ted Cox in 1977 to achieve that feat. 

Acquired in the Rule 5 draft, the Giants must have seen something they liked in the then 24-year-old. Getting the nod after hitting .464 with a 1.366 OPS in 8 games with Sacramento, since coming to the major leagues Susac has a .315 BABIP and a .256 average, which is a bit misrepresentative of his recent play. He is also hitting .260 in home games which can translate well given Oracle Park's massive outfield.

On May 9, the San Francisco traded two time gold winner and defensive anomaly, Patrick Bailey, to the Cleveland Guardians in return for a 2026 draft pick and Matt "Tugboat" Wilkinson. While the nickname "Tugboat" may have been worth it alone given Bailey's abysmal offense at the time, the Giants may have an answer at catcher in Susac.

Susac hasn't been perfect but the upside is clear for Giants

The weakness of Susac so far has been the right on right match up as he boasts a .342 average versus lefties opposed to a .217 average versus righties, but seems to thrive with runners in scoring position boasting a .459 slugging percentage with runners in scoring position.

While it would be inaccurate to say that Susac has immediately filled the defensive gap Patrick Bailey left behind, Susac does seem to be a satisfactory replacement, with more upside at the plate. He has actually graded out as a better pitch framer than Bailey this year and he has been great at throwing out runners on the bases. He still needs to learn how to manage a staff and call games but that should come with time.

Susac's two-homer game comes at a welcome time for Giants fans, as there has been little to look forward to lately, and especially since Bailey's batting stats are up since joining Cleveland.

Although Bailey struggled at the plate during his tenure, he is proof that the Giants are capable of developing an everyday catcher. While Susac isn't having an All-Star caliber year, he has shown flashes of elite contact and defense.

There has been much shade thrown at Buster Posey for the embarrassment that is the 2026 Giants, and one can only hope that Posey can recognize a good catcher when he sees one and gives Susac a chance to grow and improve.

The important takeaway is that Susac has shown the potential to be solid at the plate and his catching metrics are more than respectable. While this season just feels like the team is playing kick the can, maybe the Giants can stop kicking said can down the road, and actually commit to a rebuild with Susac as the primary catcher.

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