How long until the SF Giants have a shakeup at backup catcher?

One of the key competitions for the SF Giants in spring training was over who would be the backup catcher to Patrick Bailey. While Sam Huff emerged victorious from that competition, his early struggles could mean a shakeup is necessary.

In 18 regular season at-bats, Huff has just two hits. He has not looked great at the plate thus far, but to be fair he only plays once every few days so it can be tough to get a rhythm at the plate when you only get limited opportunities.

Huff has been mostly fine behind home plate defensively. He has graded out as a decent blocker with a decent arm which is about all a team can ask for from a backup catcher.

SF Giants may need to change things up at the catcher position

Keep in mind, the whole reason Huff is on the team is because Tom Murphy was injured in spring training. The Giants signed Huff in the offseason to provide some added depth at catcher, but he quickly established himself as the frontrunner for the backup spot after Murphy went down.

While Huff has struggled, there is not an obvious replacement for him right now. Murphy is currently on the 60-day IL so he will not be returning anytime soon. The options in the minors are not great either as Max Stassi is currently in Triple-A with a batting average of .219 and Logan Porter is batting .179.

Neither is hitting well enough to earn a promotion, but if Huff continues to struggle the Giants may feel they have to make a change just to shake things up a bit.

One complication in this is that neither Stassi nor Porter is on the 40-man roster. That means if either was promoted to the big leagues a corresponding move would have to be made. We know the current regime has valued roster stability thus far, so they may be loath to shake the boat until they have no other choice.

It is probably too early to give up on Huff just yet. He is off to a slow start but he will probably get some more opportunities to prove himself before the Giants cut him loose. Backup catcher is one of those positions on a team where you can get away with poor offensive production so long as you can handle a big league staff. Huff has been able to do that thus far so he will probably get a longer stint with the Giants even though his bat has been cold to start the season.