Susac

[islandboagie]

I guess this spring is the first time I've seen Susac play, because I Didnt realize that his stance looks identical to Posey's. Has anyone else noticed this and if so, does he intentionally copy Posey's swing?

[Rog]

You may have been away from the board for a little while at the time, but after seeing him hit in the Arizona Fall League, I said the very same thing. As for whether he copies Buster's stance, I doubt it. As for copying Buster's swing, I'm sure he would LIKE to. It's worked pretty well for Buster.

One of Andrew's hits yesterday was a swinging bunt down the third base line. The other though was a booming homer to left center. The other two at bats showed what separates him from many other batters: He walked.

Susac strikes out more than we would like for a guy who has pop but isn't a big home run hitter (15-20 maybe if he played a full season?). But he has good plate judgment and causes pitchers to throw a lot of pitches. Because of his ability to walk, he can post a reasonable on-base percentage without hitting for a high average. He's particularly good for a catcher at reaching base.

Depending no how Andrew continues to develop this year at Fresno, the Giants could face a positive dilemma. Andrew may be too good to be just a backup, and the Giants probably won't be ready to move Buster Posey from behind the plate. That could lead to Susac's becoming an important trade piece.

Getting back to Susac's power, he really improved it last season. The Eastern League is a hard place to hit home runs, but Andrew knocked one out every 22 at bats. If he can continue that level of power, he'll draw even more walks and become very valuable behind the plate.

When the Giants signed Susac, I thought his reputation was as a good defensive catcher. That wasn't the case, but he has been improving every year and would seem to be approaching if not reaching average.

I see Susac as a pretty good prospect, yet he is usually placed behind quite a few of the Giants' young pitching prospects. The Giants' system isn't ranked all that highly, but if several of the young pitchers are truly better prospects than Andrew, I think that speaks very well for the future. Even more of the young starters are ranked ahead of Hembree, to give one an added idea of the possible rotation strength.

Susac looks like a keeper to me, which would give the Giants three decent catchers. I guess the way they treat Susac's situation (assuming he continues to develop) might give us a view into how soon they are looking to move Buster from behind the plate. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Andrew is ready to start behind the plate in two years or certainly three.

If the Giants think they will keep Buster behind the plate for five years or more, I would think they would be almost "forced" trade Susac, assuming they can get a lot for him. If they're thinking of moving Buster out sooner, it would seem they could have Susac bide his time as a backup for a couple of years so that he would be ready to take over when Buster moves.

Age-wise, Andrew is three years younger than Buster, almost to the day. If Andrew were to take over the catching duties in four seasons, he would be 28 and Buster would be 31.

Regarding the Giants' low system ranking, if the young pitchers continue to develop, that ranking could shoot up as the pitchers get closer to the majors. In Edwin Escobar's case, I think the Giants expect Edwin to be IN the rotation a year from now. It is conceivable Susac could be the Giants' backup catcher by then, as well. Escobar should be pitching mostly to Susac in Fresno this year.

A trip from the Bay Area on the right game day might allow a Giants fan to see Escobar, Susac, center fielder Gary Brown, second baseman/shortstop Joe Panik and reliever Derek Law. My guess would be that three or more out of five of those players will be up with the Giants by the opening of the 2015 season. Two or three of them might be established by then.

[islandboagie]

It might be interesting to see if Susac gets any time at 2nd base this season with the question marks surrounding the health of Scutaro and the lack of possible candidates to fill the position in the future.

[Rog]

Boagie -- It might be interesting to see if Susac gets any time at 2nd base this season with the question marks surrounding the health of Scutaro and the lack of possible candidates to fill the position in the future.

Rog -- Perhaps you are simply making light of the potentially difficult situation at the keystone, but I haven't seen any indication of Andrew's playing second base. I once thought Buster Posey could play there, but the ankle injury probably moved his range there from marginal to to just null.

There has been talk of Buster's eventually playing the hot corner, but if the Giants still have Pablo Sandoval, that would seem unlikely. There is talk of Buster's playing left field, but with the spacious grounds of AT&T, I wonder if it might not be better to play him at first and, as much as I would hate to do so, move the much more mobile Brandon Belt to left field.

Likely there is plenty of time to make such decisions, and it is quite possible the situation will be different by the time the decision needs to be made.

Intriguing thought about Susac's getting time at second base, but I doubt he has the range or experience.


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[islandboagie]

When I said that I meant they might try him at second in Fresno, not convert him to 2nd at the major league level.

If he continues to impress, I dont see why they wouldn't at least consider it.

[rxmeister]

Scutaro is finally starting to take batting practice and field ground balls. Barring a setback I think he'll be ready, but I expect him to have injury problems all year long. Adrianza looks really good this spring and I'd like to see him win that backup role, but I think it will wind up with Arias playing there.

[Rog]

Boagie -- When I said that I meant they might try him at second in Fresno, not convert him to 2nd at the major league level.

If he continues to impress, I dont see why they wouldn't at least consider it.

Rog -- I was pretty sure you meant at Fresno, where Andrew will almost certainly be ticketed this season. And the Giants tried Brett Pill at second, so they might do so. I just think Andrew may be too slow. I don't really know his speed level, but I do know that in two years of college and two years of organized ball, he's stolen just 2 bases in 5 attempts.

Andrew did play nine games at 1st base for Richmond this past season, gaining three assists, participating in two double plays and making one error. Not that it was Andrew's doing, but the two double plays in nine games is particularly small.

If there is a chance that Andrew can play second base, I would indeed try him there. As you said, there really isn't much of anything to lose. More realistically, I would like to see him tried at third base, where he might be able to gain some at bats by backing up Pablo Sandoval.

Speaking of Pablo, nothing is likely to come of this, but let's not forget that Pablo entered the majors as a catcher. This probably wouldn't help get Susac into the lineup, but I have long envisioned a situation where Buster and Pablo split games in some kind of fashion between home plate and the hot corner. Throw in a little first base time, and the Giants could get a lot of work between Buster, Pablo and Belt, with Hector Sanchez still getting some time behind the plate.

With regard to Susac, with, what, nine games or so with the DH, maybe the Giants could eventually get 145 games from Buster, 150 from Pablo and 155 from Brandon. Add in the nine games with the DH, and that could provide 45 starts for Susac. Figuring in some injuries, Susac might wind up starting close to half the games. Especially in case of an injury.

Maybe that would be a way to keep Susac around for several years as Buster slowly cuts down his time behind the plate. All it would require would for Buster to learn how to play third base and for him to play a little third and a little first as well as behind the plate. Johnny Bench wound up playing 195 games at third and 145 at first in his career. Johnny also played 111 in the outfield.

Hector Sanchez is also in the picture, of course, although at some point it would seem that one of the two backup catchers would be traded. Either one should have some value.

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[klaiggeb]

Mark-Scutaro is finally starting to take batting practice and field ground balls. Barring a setback I think he'll be ready, but I expect him to have injury problems all year long. Adrianza looks really good this spring and I'd like to see him win that backup role, but I think it will wind up with Arias playing there.

---boly sys---

Mark, I agree with you on all three points. Especially the second; based ONLY upon what I saw last year, I think I'd like Adrianza to win the spot, too, mainly because I'd like to see what he can do with extended at bats.

Not that I dislike Arias. I think he's a slick defender with some pop. Not a lot, but some.

I just struggle with that 'long' swing of his. Those kind of swings are prone to slumps.

boly

[Rog]

Mark -- Scutaro is finally starting to take batting practice and field ground balls. Barring a setback I think he'll be ready, but I expect him to have injury problems all year long. Adrianza looks really good this spring and I'd like to see him win that backup role, but I think it will wind up with Arias playing there.

Rog -- I don't know what to make of the Scutaro situation, but I think you're right in that he'll miss a fair amount of playing time. As for replacing him, I would be very surprised if Adrianza is better than Arias. Looks like when everyone gets healthy though that Tony Abreu will be the odd man out.

Morse and Pagan have already nursed injuries this spring, and their history of avoiding injury isn't very good. I think the Giants need to stay pretty healthy this year, and I'm already seeing chinks in their health armor.

Intriguing to see Derek Law yesterday. Derek had been darn nigh perfect this spring, but he showed he could be quite human. He did strike out two in his inning, but he had a very hard time getting the ball down or even over the plate.

Gary Brown showed us a glimpse of why Randy likes him so well. He got at least one hit, but what was just electric was his charging a single up the middle and throwing the ball home to nail the runner from second. We talked earlier about the importance to throwing of getting to the ball quickly, and Brown showed that about as well as I've ever seen.

The ball was hard-hit, but it was just a sharp bounder up the middle. Brown was playing shallow and just flat-our CHARGED in and slightly to his right. He rid himself of the ball so quickly that he fell on his face in his follow-through, then threw a face-high strike home to Buster Posey. The runner helped out by executing a fade away slide instead of sliding right in (perhaps an effect of the new rule), but when the ball had been hit, it seemed there was no way a throw home could be even close.

To nit pick a little, Brown's arm didn't appear to be exceptionally strong (although CERTAINLY not weak), and he missed the cutoff man entirely. It wasn't that it was a SMART play, but that he showed such a phenomenal ability to get to the ball as quickly as he did and still make a strong, accurate throw.

In Gary's defense for overthowing the cutoff man, he was coming in so hard that had he tried to one-hop the throw home, he likely would have wound up (no pun) driving the throw into the ground and losing any chance of making even a close play at the plate.

As for getting to the ball, think even better than Juan Perez. An almost impossible play.

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[Rog]

Boly -- I'd like Adrianza to win the spot, too, mainly because I'd like to see what he can do with extended at bats.

Rog -- Ehire's shortstop defense has been rated as highly as Brandon Crawford's, and he grew up as a second baseman, so he likely would be a defensive upgrade over even Arias. And he looked impressive last fall with that home run and this spring with two more. But let's not forget the guy is a career .254 minor league hitter.

Ehire does seem to like California, hitting .300 at San Jose and .310 at Fresno, but at his other minor league stops he hit .255, .258, .256, .231, .220 and .240. The .240 came last season at Richmond -- right BEFORE the .310 at Fresno. Which appears to be the outlier -- .310 or .240?

It's kind of like remembering that last season before his impressive 3.56 ERA with the Giants, Yusmeiro went 4.52 at Fresno (after going a more impressive 3.46 in 2012). Yusmeiro has gotten off to a horrible start this spring, giving up 15 hits in 7 innings.

Adrianza is now hitting .222 this spring, although he has two homers, a double and a triple among his six hits.

I'd LOVE to see Ehire hit at the big league level, but it seems unlikely.

On the positive side, Ehire has been so skinny most of his career that he could have the bat knocked out of his hands. He's stronger now, and last season his 76 strikeouts against 54 walks demonstrated the improved bat control he had exhibited in the low minors.

But even last season he struck out once in just over every five at bats, which is poor for a power-challenged hitter.

How likely does it seem that Ehire will hit? His bat might POSSIBLY play at shortstop, but he appears to be a weak hitter for a second baseman.

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