San Francisco Giants Morning Minute: Susac Heating Up as Trade Deadline Appraches

On this edition of the San Francisco Giants Morning Minute, we discuss a River Cat heating up as the trade deadline approaches, as well as more updates on rehabbing Giants.

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Good morning, San Francisco Giants’ fans, and welcome to another edition of the Giants Morning Minute. The Giants were off on Thursday, but the Los Angeles Dodgers were not. They beat the Washington Nationals, 6-3, to cut into the National League West deficit a bit more, bringing it down to four games.

Hot stove season (the mid-year edition) is upon us, and the Giants figure to be involved in some moves before the clock strikes midnight on the final day of this month.

1 – Susac Finding Stroke as Deadline Nears

Down in Triple-A with the Sacramento River Cats, catcher Andrew Susac has caught fire in recent weeks. Though he was once, not too long ago, one of San Francisco’s top hitting prospects, injuries have really derailed his momentum. But as the all important trade deadline closes in, he’s starting to find his groove again.

Susac made his big league debut for the Giants in 2014, and quickly proved there was some pop in his bat. In 35 games, mainly as Buster Posey’s backup, Susac slashed .273/.326/.466 and hit eight doubles, three home runs, and drove in 19 runs. In 2015, he started the season in Sacramento as he battled a wrist injury around opening day, but was soon called up again.

His 2015 numbers didn’t quite match the previous year’s, as he slashed .218/.297/.368 with seven doubles, two triples, three home runs and 14 RBI in 52 games. He dealt with a sprained thumb from sliding into third base that sidelined him for about a month, and was finally put on the shelf for good in early September, as the wrist injury from spring persisted. Even with the stops and starts, he did show slight improvement in his strikeout rate (from 29.5 percent in 2014 to 29 percent in 2015), and took more walks (7.4 percent walk-rate in 2014 to 9.5 percent in 2015).

Trevor Brown’s emergence as a solid game-caller and capable hitter, as well as the lingering wrist injury, kept Susac down on the depth chart. He began the year in Sacramento, but eight games into the season, he was again put on the shelf because of that pesky wrist.

He struggled upon his return, and was slashing .244/.335/.359, with only two home runs in 131 at-bats, through the end of June. But since the calendar flipped to July, Susac has been rejuvenated. He’s hitting .285 in 15 games, and has re-discovered his power stroke, hitting five home runs in 63 at-bats.

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This small resurgence could again make Susac a viable trade option. He’s a bit old for a prospect, at 26 years old, but a catcher that can hit for power is a hot commodity in the game. It could be that Susac, like his former teammate Adam Duvall, just needs to be put in the right situation to flourish. With Posey playing backstop for the Giants for the foreseeable future, that right situation is likely not in San Francisco.

Catching depth is always nice to have in an organization, but dealing Susac could make it so the Giants keep a prospect that they like in a trade.

2 – Another Quick Rehab Update

It was said in yesterday’s edition that Ehire Adrianza was done with the San Jose portion of his rehab, but that wasn’t the case. He played another game for the Little Giants, hitting his fifth home run of the rehab stint. He manned third base, and was in the field for the full nine innings for the second straight day. Now he is scheduled to go up to Sacramento (even San Jose announcer Joe Ritzo says so!).
Hunter Pence returned to Sacramento’s lineup, and did Hunter Pence things. In the first inning, he hit a laser beam home run to the opposite field, and followed up with a hustle double in his next at-bat, complete with a slide into second. He popped out in his third at-bat before being pulled after his scheduled five innings.
Joe Panik was not in Sacramento’s lineup on Thursday, and Giants’ beat writer Andrew Baggarly started a fire on Twitter, suggesting the second baseman may have been part of a trade. Alex Pavlovic put that fire out, but started a new one entirely, by saying that Panik wasn’t traded, and this was health-related, as Panik “wasn’t feeling great“. Hopefully there is a bit more clarification before Friday’s game.

Next: Giants Morning Minute: Well, the Bats Woke Up

And that will do it for this edition of the Giants Morning Minute. Up next, the Giants start a three-game series with the New York Yankees, their first series in Yankee Stadium since 2013. In game one, aces Madison Bumgarner and Masahiro Tanaka will be on the mound.

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