SF Giants reportedly bolster catching competition with former Brewers backstop

The SF Giants have brought in a more experienced veteran to compete with Rule 5 prospect Daniel Susac in Spring Training. Eric Haase, a 33-year-old backstop who brings major league experience over the span of eight seasons, signed a minor league contract with the Giants on Friday.

SF Giants reportedly bolster catching competition with former Brewers backstop

Jon Morosi of MLB Network was the first to break the news, and if Haase makes the team, he’ll earn a base salary of $1.6 million.

Though Susac might come with a bit higher ceiling, thanks to only being 24 years old, he’s a wild card at this stage, and Haase is more of a known commodity. Haase has a career 85 wRC+ and 1.1 WAR over 383 career games split between the Cleveland Guardians, Detroit Tigers, and Brewers.

He’s enjoyed some bursts of power, hitting 22 homers back in 2021 and slashing an impressive .273/.304/.515 more recently in 2024. He’s averaged only 48 games per year in his fairly long career, though, and has been worth a combined -0.5 WAR over the past three seasons thanks mostly to an awful 2023.

Combined with his somewhat below-average glovework behind the dish, that’s not the kind of profile that made teams clamor to offer him a guaranteed deal, so the Giants brought him in for practically no risk. Much like every other position player San Francisco has acquired this offseason, however, Haase might not last very long as a member of the organization.

It will behoove the Giants to give both Haase and Susac plenty of playing time in Spring Training, because they’ll have to pick one or the other to stay in the organization come Opening Day. Haase can choose to opt out of his deal if he doesn’t start on the big-league club, and Susac would have to be returned to the A’s if he doesn’t spend the entire year in the majors since he’s a Rule 5 pick.

It would have been nice to keep both catchers on hand and stockpile depth behind Bailey, but that’s not the situation the Giants find themselves in. Jesús Rodríguez might be first in line for a call-up from Sacramento, unless he were to actually just win the job outright. That probably wouldn’t be the best idea in April, though, since he’s the only one of the trio who can freely be optioned to the River Cats.

So, Haase is here just to be a safety net in case Susac doesn’t find his footing in the Cactus League, and it could shape up to be a mildly interesting competition. Buster Posey seems to have given an inordinate amount of focus tinkering with the backup catcher role this offseason as opposed to bigger roster issues – but coming from the best catcher in team history, you could say that’s understandable.

Maybe with this bit of business done, both Posey and Zack Minasian will feel comfortable enough with their catching outlook to start thinking about more pressing matters. I would suggest they shift their focus towards finding people who are better at catching, throwing and hitting baseballs than the players they already employ. Hopefully that’s not too radical.