Trio of former SF Giants minor leaguers find new home for 2022

The major league portion of the offseason may be on hiatus for now, but the minor league side continues to churn away. Several former SF Giants minor leaguers including outfielder Braden Bishop, infielder Juniel Querecuto, and catcher Francisco Peña all found new homes for 2022 within the last couple of days.

Trio of former SF Giants minor leaguers find new home for 2022

Bishop and Querecuto signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Cincinnati Reds, respectively.
Querecuto's deal includes a camp invite and it is likely that the same is true for Bishop but that is not yet known. On the other hand, Peña is moving overseas as he signed a deal with the CTBC Brothers of Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL).

Braden Bishop

The Giants claimed Bishop off of waivers from the Seattle Mariners early in the 2021 season. He was immediately passed through waivers to open up a 40-man roster spot and give San Francisco a little extra outfield depth.

Braden, who is the older brother of top Giants outfielder prospect Hunter Bishop, really had a nice season with the Sacramento River Cats. In 320 plate appearances, the right-handed bat slashed .326/.388/.549 with 12 home runs, 45 RBI, and 61 runs scored in Sacramento. He brings a good glove and great speed to the table but he has struggled to the tune of a .343 OPS in a small sample of only 99 plate appearances across three seasons with the Mariners.

Juniel Querecuto

Querecuto came over to the Giants at an interesting time in 2017 as the organization was looking for more versatile players. The 29-year-old infielder definitely owns a lot of gloves as he has pro experience at every position with the exception of pitcher and catcher.

In his lone season in the Giants organization, the switch-hitter registered a .232/.298/.290 line with only two home runs, 27 RBI, and 26 runs scored in 328 plate appearances. Querecuto has spent the last several seasons with the Diamondbacks organization but his offensive woes have continued. Given his versatility, he might have a shot at making the Reds team at some point in 2022 but he will need to show improvement with the bat.

Francisco Peña

Similar to Querecuto, Peña joined the Giants at an interesting time but in a different season. He came over to the Giants from the St. Louis Cardinals at the beginning of the 2019 season. Prior to the season, the organization brought in a lot of competition at catcher but none were able to stick except for Stephen Vogt.

Peña gave the Giants an experienced backstop in the upper minors and he turned in a nice campaign in 2019. The 32-year-old catcher produced a .287/.319/.543 line with 16 home runs, 46 RBI, and 34 runs scored in his lone season in the organization. He spent the 2021 season in the Oakland A's organization before moving overseas.

The veteran catcher will join a CTBC Brothers team that went 66-49 last season. The pitching staff featured several arms with major league experience including former Giants farmhand José De Paula. Peña gives them a veteran presence who briefly served as Yadier Molina's backup with the Cardinals in 2018.