The Rockies reduce catcher Elias Diaz unfastened earlier this week after he went unclaimed on waivers, and Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle stories that the Giants are among the many groups with some curiosity now that Diaz is a free agent who may very well be signed for the prorated league minimal. (San Francisco additionally had some curiosity in Diaz previous to the commerce deadline, per Slusser.) As long as Diaz indicators on or earlier than Aug. 31, he’d be eligible for his new membership’s postseason roster.
The Giants simply positioned Patrick Bailey on the injured checklist yesterday with an indirect pressure, severely compromising the staff’s catching depth. San Francisco known as up journeyman Jakson Reetz in a corresponding transfer to Bailey’s IL placement, they usually’ll use Reetz as their No. 2 catcher behind backup-turned-starter Curt Casali, a minimum of for now. Casali, 35, was a midseason signing himself and has solely produced a .205/.318/.233 batting line in 86 plate appearances. The 28-year-old Reetz is simply 2-for-16 in 17 MLB plate appearances and was batting .254/.368/.431 (102 wRC+) in a hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League setting previous to his recall to the large leagues.
Diaz would signify an improve over that tandem in just about each capability. Whereas it’d be a stretch to name him even a median offensive contributor, given his lackluster energy output and perennially middling on-base percentages, Diaz has strong contact abilities and may sometimes hit for a reasonably empty batting common on the very least. He batted .270/.315/.378 this yr in Colorado (80 wRC+) and carries a .251/.304/.388 slash in 2010 plate appearances relationship again to the 2019 season.
Defensively, Diaz has sometimes drawn good grades for his skill to dam pitches within the dust, and he’s repeatedly posted common or higher numbers when it comes to caught-stealing charge. He’s continuously been panned for poor pitch-framing abilities, however he’s delivered a career-best efficiency in that regard this season and been credited with plus total glovework because of this (5 Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Common alike).
Even with these defensive enhancements, Diaz can’t maintain a candle to the injured Bailey’s glovework — though that’s true of just about each defender within the sport. The 25-year-old Bailey has shortly emerged as the game’s premier defensive catcher — and considered one of its premier defenders at any place — drawing the most effective framing marks of anybody in MLB and thwarting a hefty 30% of stolen-base makes an attempt towards him since his large league debut. Drilling down additional, Bailey is the most effective within the sport in Statcast’s “caught stealing above common” metric, which contextualizes stolen base makes an attempt based mostly on who’s operating, who’s on the mound and what sort of leap the runner will get — moderately than treating all of them as equal. (Throwing out Elly De La Cruz when he has an impressive leap, in spite of everything, is much harder than throwing out Hunter Renfroe on the again finish of a double-steal try.)
After a powerful begin to the season with the bat, Bailey’s offense has tanked prior to now six weeks or so, leaving him with a .233/.299/.344 slash on the season. Which may make Diaz appear to be an improve offensively on the very least, however it must be identified that Diaz himself has floundered within the batter’s field of late as properly. A calf pressure value Diaz three weeks in June, and within the time between his return and his eventual DFA, he hit solely .208/.243/.264 in 111 plate appearances.
That mentioned, Diaz has a monitor report of placing the ball in play and delivering offense that, whereas beneath that of a league-average bat, is usually strong relative to fellow catchers (who are usually below-average hitters on the entire, largely given the bodily calls for of the place). And given the in-house options with Bailey on the shelf, it’s pretty logical that the Giants would have curiosity in inserting a wager on that monitor report as they appear to remain afloat in a tightly contested chase for the ultimate Wild Card spot within the Nationwide League. The Braves presently maintain that third Wild Card spot, however they’re solely 2.5 video games up on the Mets and three.5 video games forward of the Giants.
