Daniel Susac's season came to an end on Aug. 10 with a left knee patella fracture. The San Francisco Giants have been making do ever since then.
He did enough as a rookie to start this season to compel the Giants to trade their Gold Glove backstop Patrick Bailey to the Cleveland Guardians , reasoning that Susac's bat and his growth behind the plate would help the team.
He'll finish the season with a slash of .243/.289/.375 with three home runs and 22 RBI. But there is one number that is even more important, and it ensure that he has a future with San Francisco in 2027 and beyond. That number is 92.
San Francisco Giants catcher Daniel Susac. Credit: Denis Poroy-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
It's not his jersey number (that's No. 6). It has nothing to do with anyone's jersey. It's the small detail that doesn't restrict the Giants on what they can do with the former Rule 5 draft pick moving forward.
Susac was a first-round pick of the Athletics in 2022 and last offseason he was eligible for the Rule 5 draft. The Athletics didn't put him on the 40-man roster to protect him, and he was selected by the Minnesota Twins , who traded him to the Giants. But, because he was a Rule 5 draft pick, the rules apply.
For the Giants to keep him, they had to put him on the 40-man roster immediately and then he had to make the 26-man roster on opening day. After that, he had to spend at least 90 days on the active roster for the Rule 5 restrictions to go away. Otherwise, San Francisco would have had to offer him back to the Athletics.
Susac made the 26-man roster as Bailey's backup and eventually took the starting job. When he was hurt, he had spent 92 days on the active roster, per MLB Trade Rumors . His service time topped the minimum needed by two days. Had it not, then the Giants would have continued to deal with his Rule 5 restrictions going into 2027, meaning he would have needed to remain on the 40-man roster and make the 26-man opening day roster again to remain with the team.
San Francisco can treat Susac like any other 40-man roster player in 2027 and beyond. The Giants have an answer at catcher for, potentially, the next five years, since he's under team control through at least 2031. And all it took was a trade for a player the Twins paid $100,000 to draft. It's about as good a bargain as the Giants could have asked for in 2026.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/mlb/giants/onsi as This Critical Daniel Susac Detail is Good News for Giants in 2027 .
