Giants announce interesting signing... | SF Giants News

The San Francisco Giants announced yet another roster move to the big league club. There's some shuffling going around in the catching room, and we will break that down here on SF Giants Digest. If you're new here, welcome to the channel. I am your host, Michael Monreal, and if you've been here before, welcome back to SF Giants Digest. We're so glad you found your way back to the channel. Now before we get into today's video, let me know down in the comments what you want to see through the remainder of the season from the San Francisco Giants. And if you haven't yet, make sure to go down below and hit that like button, hit that subscribe button. Those are two of the easiest ways to help support the channel. About 75% of you guys watch the videos are not actually subscribed to the channel. It's completely free, takes just a second of your time, and really does help us continue to bring the best Giants content and analysis on YouTube. So if you enjoyed today's video, today's breakdown, make sure you go down below, hit those buttons. It would really mean a lot to me and everyone at Digest Media. Now getting right into today's video, if anybody watched our video from earlier this morning, then we already broke down a couple of moves in the catching room, and a quick refresher on that. The SF Giants made the following roster moves today. Zach Morgan, who would have been wearing number 80, selected from AAA Sacramento, and catcher Daniel Susak placed on the 10-day injury list with a left knee patella fracture. Now before we get into the exact move we'll be breaking down in this video, we do have a very quick update on Daniel Susak. This comes from Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. She said Daniel Susak is wearing a big brace on his left knee and using crutches. He's not sure what's next. Doctors waiting for swelling to go down before they have a full idea how much time he might miss and if any other measures need to be taken. So it just seems like we don't have a ton of information on what exactly is going on with that left knee of Daniel Susak. Obviously there was a diagnosis, but outside of that we don't have a timetable. We don't have a real idea of when he could be back. So we will be waiting for that to see if we even see him through the rest of the 2026 season or if his rookie campaign is officially over. But the other part of this deal or the other part of this move that we did break down this morning was the fact that Zach Morgan was going to be making his major league debut with his hometown team. He's from Stockton, California, grew up a San Francisco Giants fan. So I shouldn't say hometown team, but he is a Northern California kid and grew up a Giants fan. Was at the 2012 World Series Game 1 when Pablo Sandoval hit three home runs. However, he did not get to make his major league debut. This also came from Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. She said, well, that was quick. Zach Morgan is on his way out, says headed for Vegas to join Sacramento. So he got called up, got added to the 40-man roster just to not make his major league debut. I believe he got there in the third inning of yesterday's game. So he spent about six innings in the big leagues before getting sent back down to AAA and still will wait to make his major league debut. But the other piece of news that came out in the last few minutes, this came from Justice De Los Santos of the Bay Area news group, The Mercury. Andrew Kisner has a locker. So it looks like Zach Morgan's stint as a Giant only lasted a couple of hours. Now, Andrew Kisner is absolutely a familiar name with the San Francisco Giants, especially if you were following the last three-ish months of last season. Now, once again, before we get into what Andrew Kisner did last year, what he's done this year, Susan Slusser, one more piece of information during this transaction from the San Francisco Giants. Kisner says he exercised his opt-out last week because he was playing well and wanted to be available if any opportunities came up. He was in Worchester, Massachusetts when the Giants called yesterday, and he, his wife, took a six-hour flight with their 10-month-old son Grant. Funny in the comments, Susan Slusser said that Grant got a lot of compliments on that flight, but that's for another day. Andrew Kisner, back with the San Francisco Giants, as I mentioned, a guy who I'm sure some of you have heard that name over the past year or so, you're a little bit more familiar with than you were prior to the 2025 season. And that is because last season, he was the Giants' main backup catcher for the last two to three months of the season, I'd say. He actually ended the year on a very nice hitting streak about, you know, two weeks worth of games. He had some nice numbers, but over the grand scheme of his 2025 season, it was not necessarily all that impressive. Getting into what he did last season and what he's done in his big league career, last year with the Giants specifically, a 221-299-299 slash line, so not the greatest numbers in terms of offense. 0.2 wins above replacement across his 33 games on the season last year, an 11.4 strikeout rate and 8% walk rate. So he actually didn't strike out all that much last season, despite being a very well below average hitter. He was a 73 WRC+. He did drive in five runs and hit one home run, 12 runs scored, so I guess there's that. But still, over the course of 33 games played and 55 played appearances, you would expect a little bit more from a backup catcher. But still, at the end of the day, it is a backup catcher. He is there to, you know, catch games, clog a spot in the lineup, and just give your starting catcher, who will be Drew Kavanaugh through the remainder of the season, unless Daniel Juszczak makes a comeback at some point in September. But as of right now, Drew Kavanaugh the starter, Andrew Kisner will be the guy to take his legs out from under him over the course of, you know, two games a week, whatever it may be. But it is Andrew Kisner getting that backup spot. And over the course of his entire career, he's been a below average hitter. Never a single season above average, or really even close to it, besides that 2023 season with the St. Louis Cardinals, where he had a 92 WRC+. However, he has been very good this season in AAA with the Red Sox, I believe, in Worcester, Massachusetts. He had a 12.4% walk rate, a 16.7% strikeout rate. That was good for a 294-393-552 slash line. An OPS of 945, and a WRC+, of 130. I believe it was 12 home runs he'd hit so far this year in AAA with the Red Sox organization. So the numbers look absolutely awesome. If you look at this and you say, hey, the Giants are bringing in this guy to be the backup catcher, then you'd say, wow, that's awesome. Why don't we bring this guy in earlier? However, it is because he's been an underwhelming hitter across his big league career, and even with the Giants last season, he didn't show a lot to even them consider bringing him back as the backup catcher. Of course, Dan Jusicek was taken in the Rule 5 draft. He became the backup, and eventually the starter, once the Giants decided to trade Patrick Bailey to the Cleveland Guardians for that 29th overall pick that ended up being Carson Buleman and for Tugboat Wilkinson, who is in the AAA rotation in Sacramento right now. Now, before we get out of here, I do want to talk about what will the catching room look like the remainder of the season? Obviously, Andrew Kisner is probably going to be in it the last month and a half, unless, as I mentioned, Dan Jusicek comes back in the middle of September, early September, end of September. Even if it's for a week, I'm sure the Giants would be okay with DFA and releasing Andrew Kisner for that last week. And right now, it looks like Drew Kavanaugh is going to be the starter of the San Francisco Giants behind the plate for the remainder of the season. Personally, I actually love Drew Kavanaugh. I think his upside is a lot higher than Dan Jusicek's, especially with the bat. I think his offensive approach is really encouraging. This is a guy who flew through AA, through AAA over the last year so he absolutely mashed at both levels. And this is a former 17th round pick out of Florida Southern, so a very small school, a late draft pick, and he still was mashing in the minor leagues. I think Drew Kavanaugh, once he really gets his feet, you know, underneath him in the big leagues, he could be a really intriguing piece for the Giants moving forward. He's not a slouch on defense either. He might not be the best framer. His glove moves around a lot behind the plate pre-pitch, but in terms of getting out of that squat and getting runners in the stolen base department, he's improved a lot. He's very, very quick out of the squat and that really does make up for a lack of a very powerful arm, which is exactly what Dan Jusicek has. He has an absolute hose piece. So the Giants have two options here in Dan Jusicek and Drew Kavanaugh that could be really intriguing for them to kind of just see what they have down the line over the next few months and over the next year or so behind the plate, and who will take over as the starting catcher of the future for the San Francisco Giants. That's going to do it for today's video. If you enjoyed, make sure to go down below, hit that like button, hit that subscribe button. That'd be much appreciated by myself and everyone here at Digest Media. As always, thank you so much for watching and we will see you next time.