Should SF Giants try to add two-time All-Star to upgrade at catcher?

Adley Rustchman has consistently been labeled as one of the best catchers in baseball since coming up. However, with the Baltimore Orioles recently extending their top prospect, Samuel Basallo, could Rustchman be on the move this offseason? He has two years of team control after 2025, and somebody could go out and add the former number one prospect in all of baseball. Let's take a dive and see if it would make sense for the SF Giants.

Should the SF Giants try to add a two-time All-Star to upgrade the catcher position?

From 2022 to 2024, Adley Rutschman was arguably the best catcher in the sport. It was clear that Rutschman was one of the most talented hitters in baseball at a premium position. This play resulted in a Silver Slugger Award, a Rookie of the Year runner-up, and a pair of top 15 MVP finishes.

However, Rutschman's bat has hit a significant wall this season. He hasn't looked like the same player and is below average in the majority of offensive statistics.

This brings a lot of confusion when discussing the value of Rutschman in talks. The Orioles will want the price of the player he was in the first three seasons of his career. On the flip side, teams will want to pay for the player he has been thoughout 2025. While it's still a good player at a premium position, it's not the production you'd expect from one of the best catchers in the sport.

It is quite refreshing to see that his glove has been consistent throughout his career. While he's not the best defensive catcher, he has been able to rack up 33 Defensive Runs Saved in 374 games behind the plate. However, when it comes to defensive catchers, the Giants happen to have the best in the sport, which makes this conversation even more interesting.

The Giants' current catcher, Patrick Bailey, has been one of the more valuable catchers in baseball alongside Rutschman, for completely different reasons. Bailey has been far and away the best defensive catcher in baseball since the start of 2023.

As seen by the numbers, Bailey is comfortably ahead of the competition when it comes to defending behind the plate. It makes sense why he's on his way to his second straight National League Gold Glove award.

However, the bat is a completely different story. Bailey has been a below-average hitter in every season of his career and, quite frankly, hasn't been all that close to average. With 100 being league average, Bailey's wRC+ by year goes 77, 82, and 59. This season has been a new low for Bailey, with only two home runs and a strikeout rate of 31.0%.

Now, it seems a bit early for the Giants to completely move off of Bailey as a whole and it's hard to ignore his supremacy as a defensive catcher. On the flip side, it's hard to run out that production at the plate in the majority of games throughout a 162 game season.

Bailey's saving grace could be in the fact that both him and Rutschman are switch-hitters. To add to the fact, Bailey is slightly better as a left-handed hitter and Rutschman is signifcantly better as a right-handed hitter. This could allow the Giants to run out both catchers in regular platoon situations.

At a quick glance, adding Rutschman makes a lot of sense for San Francisco. He has the ceiling of one of the best hitting catchers in baseball, and the Giants have gotten minimal offensive production from that position.

However, his bat has tailed off in 2025, and the Orioles will expect a return that matches Rutschman's ceiling. While the Giants' farm system has seen improvement this season, at some point, you need to see the organization produce some homegrown, everyday players. With there finally being some upside in the lower minors, you can't just trade them all away and leave the farm system barren like it's been for the majority of the last decade.

While Buster Posey will likely do his homework on Rutschman this winter, a lot would have to go right for it to come to fruition. Baltimore would have to not ask for a king's ransom, while on the flip side, Posey would have to be willing to give up a few significant pieces in the farm.

At the end of the day, we'll see how much Posey, a former catcher himself, values offense versus defense at the position. Only time will tell if he thinks it's worth it to trade for a former All-Star and Silver Slugger whose bat has hit a wall in 2025.

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