SF Giants lose recently-acquired catcher in waiver claim by the Reds

You can close the book on the Mauricio Dubón trade with the Houston Astros from last month. The SF Giants acquired catcher Michael Papierski in that move but his time in San Francisco is over.

SF Giants lose recently-acquired catcher in waiver claim by the Reds

The Giants designated the young catcher for assignment last week after claiming Chicago White Sox first baseman Yermín Mercedes. The Cincinnati Reds were awarded the claim on Papierski and they now have two former Giants catchers in him and Ararmis Garcia.

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Giants fans were unhappy with the trade of Dubón as he had become a popular player with local ties to the organization. However, the active roster was reduced to 26 players at the beginning of May and that created a roster glut with him and Thairo Estrada.

There was no place to stash either player as they were both out of options, so Dubón was shipped to Houston to address a need at catcher. Since then, the Giants acquired another catcher in Austin Wynns from the Philadelphia Phillies, so it felt like Papierski's hold on a 40-man roster spot was coming to an end.

The switch-hitting catcher appeared briefly with the Giants, recording nine hitless at-bats before being optioned to Triple-A. It was unfair to expect any significant contributions from him given that he had struggled at the plate since being drafted in the sixth round of the 2017 draft.

In five minor league seasons, Papierski has slashed .219/.354/.330 but this included a strong 15.2 percent walk rate against a 20.1 percent strikeout rate. The Giants liked his ability to control the strike zone, but he did not offer much else in the way of offensive production.

Following his demotion, Papierski continued to struggle at the plate as he registered a .208/.246/.359 line (43 wRC+) with two home runs, 13 RBI, and five runs in 57 plate appearances with the Sacramento River Cats.

Despite his offensive shortcomings, Papierski was known as a good pitcher framer and veteran pitchers from the Astros organization liked his work behind the plate. That type of compliment will keep you in baseball.

The 26-year-old was optioned to Triple-A following the claim but it might be tough for him to make an impact as the Reds currently have five catchers on the 40-man roster. That said, switch-hitting catchers are rare so he is at least unique in that regard.