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Post by sharksrog on Dec 14, 2013 14:49:51 GMT -5
I was a bit surprised to see that the Giants may be counting fairly heavily on catching prospect Andrew Susac. Susac had a nice 2013 season in AA and a very nice Arizonal Fall League.
Like most young catchers, he is said to need work defensively and in pitch calling, but he has a strong arm and seems reasonably athletic for a catcher.
What made me think the Giants were counting on Susac was the way Brian Sabean (I believe it was, although it could also have been Bobby Evans) said that OTHER TEAMS might consider Hector Sanchez to be a front-line catcher (indicating a possible trade) and that the GIANTS considered Susac to be a front-line guy in the future.
One thing is pretty much for sure. A team seemingly can't have too much depth behind the plate. If nothing else, a potential top-line catcher certainly should have trade value.
If either Sanchez or Susac does develop to the point where he is considered to be immediately ready to be a front-liner, the Giants will have a handful of nice options.
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Post by rxmeister on Dec 14, 2013 19:02:42 GMT -5
Looks like the plan is for Susac to become the full time catcher when they move Buster out from behind the plate. Hector will probably back up Susac the way he now backs up Buster. Of course that assumes Susac continues improve defensively. Pretty sure his bat won't be a problem, especially for that position. A good reason for the majority of this board to root for him to succeed is that he's a conservative Republican, which you would know if you followed him on Twitter.
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Post by allenreed on Dec 14, 2013 21:24:23 GMT -5
You follow a minor league catcher on Twitter? Do you reprimand him for making political tweets?
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Post by rxmeister on Dec 15, 2013 8:16:11 GMT -5
Of course not, but a lot of people do. He said he was going to stop because of all of the fuss, and he has. I did see a recent comment though of him wondering if they'll let him bring all his guns with him to California!
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Post by sharksrog on Dec 15, 2013 12:24:39 GMT -5
Mark -- Pretty sure his bat won't be a problem Rog -- Andrew Susac is a rare catcher who actually draws walks. That shows strike zone control and does indeed indicate he will be able to hit. At AA Richmond, considered to be a pitchers' league, Andrew hit .256/.362/.458/.820 with 68 strikeouts and 42 walks. In the Arizona Fall League, considered to be a hitters' league, he pounded at .360/.507 (!)/.480/.987 with 11 strikeouts and 16 walks. In the AFL, he batted cleanup. When a guy with above-average power draws 58 walks while striking out 79 times, he should be taken seriously. Susac still needs to avoid strikeouts (the 79 came in just 312 at bats), but he shows a knowledge of the strike zone. I'm not sure whether he can hit the curve ball, but I have seen him lay off it when it was outside the zone. And I have seen him hit fastballs. Coincidentally, his stance at the plate is similar to Buster Posey's. Susac will turn 24 just before the start of next season. Coincidentally, I'm sitting about 10 miles from his birthplace in Roseville, CA. Andrew was named the Giants' #15 prospect by mlb.com prior to the 2012 season. He'll rank considerably higher on this year's list. In fact, that several young Giants pitching prospects seem to be ranked above him speaks highly of those prospects. Read more: sfgiantsmessageboard.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=2141&page=1#17751#ixzz2nZ2djUxB |
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Post by dk on Dec 15, 2013 17:43:20 GMT -5
Susac looked very "lazy" in the few games I saw him on TV....he doesn't appear to back up plays and he does a lot of his catching on his knees...might just be the long season he went through....wouldn't it be great if the Giants had a strong command guy as a catcher who could keep the pitchers on the same page??? Anyone watching Molina and Posey catching a game should be able to understand that Posey is just a ball catcher and not a leader....
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sfgdood
Long time member 
stats geeks never played the game...that's why they don't get it and never will
Posts: 90
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Post by sfgdood on Dec 15, 2013 21:57:32 GMT -5
The Giants catcher of the future? There's this guy with 2 WS rings, an MVP, a ROY and lots of other hardware on his mantle. He's also getting paid a bit of cheddar to play catcher for us for quite a few years yet. Just a thought, HE could be the catcher of the present AND future. He's only 26.
~Dood
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Post by sharksrog on Dec 16, 2013 11:05:26 GMT -5
Randy -- The Giants catcher of the future? There's this guy with 2 WS rings, an MVP, a ROY and lots of other hardware on his mantle. He's also getting paid a bit of cheddar to play catcher for us for quite a few years yet. Just a thought, HE could be the catcher of the present AND future. He's only 26. Rog -- I don't think anyone is looking to put Buster out to pasture, but the Giants are concerned that playing him too much and too long at catcher could shorten his career. Johnny Bench didn't play over 107 games after the age of 29, and even then he would out of the game after his age 35 season. I've been a proponent of leaving Buster behind the plate for a fair period of time, but even the Giants are already thinking about him at other positions. The emergence of Susac and/or Sanchez would aid in that transition. Susac took a huge step forward last season. He raised his OPS by nearly 90 points even while moving from a hitters' league to a pitchers' league. And in the hitter-oriented AFL, he hit exceptionally -- especially with an amazing .507 (!) OBP. The .507 came in a small sample in a hitter-friendly league featuring very young pitchers. But to put that OBP in some kind of perspective, it was more than 50% higher than Bench's career .342, which itself is exceptional for a catcher. Read more: sfgiantsmessageboard.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=2141&page=1#17773#ixzz2necEkMi3 |
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