Daniel Susac was on the injured list when Patrick Bailey’s trade to the Guardians became official on May 9th. The transaction effectively made the rookie the Giants primary catcher, a promotion earned on the merits of his offensive production as the back-up backstop, which shone especially bright compared to the dull bat work of Bailey. Of course, the .478 average and 1.152 OPS was a 24 plate-appearance mirage. Turns out, Susac was not the second-coming of Mike Piazza — even worse, he proved to be a whiter shade of Bailey’s pale.
Going into Wednesday’s game against the Brewers, Susac’s .239 SLG (105 PA) since May 9th was the lowest among catchers in the Majors (min 100 PA). His 39 wRC+ was obviously well below league average, and well below Bailey’s below-average 86 wRC+.
It’s not just the on-field results either. By most advanced metrics and expected statistics, Susac is getting out pretty much what he’s put in. His launch angle sweet spot % is excellent but it isn’t supported by a quick bat speed or exit velocity. With Susac, the Giants have ended up with a faded copy of their Gold Glover: Still solid behind the dish, but dubious when digging in next to it.
A crude, but still revealing one, measurement of Susac’s deficiency in power lies in home run totals. Bailey has hit four as a member of the Cleveland Guardians. Eric Haase, since DFA’d by San Francisco, homered four times over 69 at-bats as a Giant, including a two-homer game against the Dodgers. The light-hitting Jesus Rodriguez hit his first in his second game of the season.
As for Susac, he still hadn’t cleared the wall. He was the only catcher in the Majors since May 9th (min. 100 PA) without a homer…
Maybe that fact didn’t live rent-free in his brain, or keep him up late at night. Maybe he wasn’t desperately swinging after that first long ball when he dug out the 1-1 change-up from Brewers’ starter Thomas Pannone. His swing looked unbothered. The pitch wasn’t a mistake in terms of location, but it appeared to be a mistake in that Susac was ready for it, meeting it out in front of the plate, getting some air under it, squaring it up. The way he hurried out of the box after contact made it look like he wasn’t sure. And how would he know what a home run felt like, or sounded like anyway? He had never hit one out in a Major League stadium before…until now.
The Susac sock gave the Giants and Logan Webb a three-run cushion that would be briefly tested by the Brewers before San Francisco would score 13 runs across the late innings, including a 7-run outburst in the 6th.
Luis Arraez, in probably his last home game, logged his 24th career 4-hit game, accompanied with some fine flashes of leather at second base. Heliot Ramos also had four knocks, while he and Jung Hoo Lee collected three RBIs a piece.
Still, Susac is the MVP in this one. Give the kid the game ball, the beer-and-mustard shower, cuz he deserves it. The wait is over. After grinding through 131 plate appearances to log his first career homer, just two more passed before he launched his second. Who cares if it was off of position player Andrew Vaughn and a 60 MPH fastball? A homer is never a lay-up. In fact, there’s an argument to be made that generating enough power to clear a fence from a pitch that slow is more impressive.
While the Susac family will look back on this day fondly, the 16-3 win won’t go down in any history books as a shining example of baseball aesthetics. It got sloppy at times, and dragged on at the pace of an Andrew Vaughn eephus. Home plate umpire Emil Jimenez lost track of the count at one point. In his first at-bat of the season, Osleveis Basabe, just called-up after Casey Schmitt’s injury, nearly dove, bat first, at a 49 MPH knuckle ball for strike three. Not particularly pretty, but not consequential either. Besides, you expect this level of shenanigans from our bottom-feeding Giants — but not the 67-win Brewers.
The Brew Crew probably couldn’t get in the showers fast enough after the final out was recorded. Their three errors in the field, along with various gifts of 90 feet handed out by Milwaukee arms, were major donations, helping to fund San Francisco’s offensive spending spree.
A dropped flyball by centerfielder Garrett Mitchell in the 2nd allowed Jung Hoo Lee to reach second before Susac’s three run homer. Their nightmarish 6th inning started when relievers Chad Patrick and Aaron Ashby loaded the bases for free with a HBP and two walks.
Up until that point, Milwaukee had the wind in their sails.
Logan Webb, who has been struggling since the All-Star break to preserve the integrity of leads, couldn’t keep Milwaukee off the base paths or off the scoreboard immediately after Susac’s homer. The Brewers whittled a three run lead down to one with single scores in the 3rd and 4th innings. Webb hung on through those frames for dear life, facing seven batters with a runner, or runners, on base, and six batters who represented the tying run. Considering that level of pressure, Webb did well to manage it. Twice Milwaukee had runners at third with no outs — both ended up scoring, but on fielder’s choice ground balls. Bryce Eldridge in the 3rd and Webb in the 4th may have had plays on the runners dancing off third, but they traded a single run for a guaranteed out. A bargain that paid off and kept the innings from getting out of hand.
As the Brewers closed the gap, efforts to pad their slimming lead were stymied. The Giants had the leadoff man reach base in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th innings, and each time failed to push them around the bases. After Ramos singled, he was thrown out trying to steal second. Willy Adames didn’t leave first after being hit by a pitch in the 4th, and with runners at the corners threatening, Lee rolled sheepishly out to second to end the 5th.
It wasn’t until they were relieved of the pressure to string together hits and link-up baserunners — thanks to the graciousness of Brewers pitching — that they were able to find a way to break through and score. Christian Koss’s single, notching him his first RBI of the year, broke the dam open. Hits from Arraez and Ramos would score three more runs, and another error, this time by catcher Gary Sanchez, gifted San Francisco a fifth. Lee’s 2-RBI double capped the rally at seven.
Five more singles in the 7th grew the run total to 13, and in the 8th, Milwaukee waved the white flag by sending Vaughn to the mound.
Not that calling “uncle” was going to stop Susac from getting his licks in.
