Trio of SF Giants minor leaguers reassigned to minor league camp

On Monday, the SF Giants made another series of roster cuts. Nate Furman, Logan Porter, and Nick Margevicius were all reassigned to minor league camp, per Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle.

Trio of SF Giants minor leaguers reassigned to minor league camp

As mentioned previously, optioning and reassigning a player to minor league camp have the same end result, even if the terminology is slightly different. Reassigning is designated for non-roster players, whereas optioning is used for players on the 40-man roster. 

Oddly, the Giants have only optioned Blade Tidwell, and there are fewer than two weeks to go before Opening Day.

Sending Porter to minor league camp means that there are only a handful of catchers remaining. Patrick Bailey enters the season as the everyday catcher, but they are having a competition for his backup.

Daniel Susac, Eric Haase, and Jesús Rodríguez are still in that competition. Susac got out to an early lead and seemingly remains the frontrunner, especially since he is in camp as a Rule 5 pick. 

Haase is a veteran bat with a track record of hitting for power. Rodríguez has been used in a utility role. If he were a serious candidate for the backup role, they would like use him primarily at catcher. That has not been the case, but he has hit the ball well, and the Giants are motivated to see how he handles different positions, including second base and left field. 

Porter collected seven hitless at-bats this spring. On the other hand, Nate Furman put together some competitive at-bats. The hits did not fall, as he put up a .688 OPS in 31 plate appearances. This includes five walks against seven strikeouts.

The left-handed bat finished last season in Double-A, where he posted a .970 OPS in 39 plate appearances. Furman has a quality hit tool with good contact skills, and he fits the description of what the front office likes in a hitter.

Nick Margevicius joined the Giants on a minor league deal in the offseason. He has appeared in parts of three major league seasons with the San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners.

Margevicius was one of the many left-handed pitchers in Giants camp, but he is lower on the depth chart. He allowed seven earned runs with six strikeouts and one walk across 12 Cactus League innings.