The Giants have selected a catcher Andrew Knapp to their roster, tweets Evan Webeck of the San Jose Mercury News. Utility player Yermin Mercedes was optioned to make room on the active roster. To open a space on the 40-man roster, left-hander Andrew Vasquez was designated for assignment.
The Giants are in need of another catching option due to Joey Bart leaving Monday’s game after suffering a concussion. He was placed on the seven-day concussion IL yesterday with Yermin Mercedes being recalled in a corresponding move. Mercedes is more of an emergency catcher these days, however, as he’s only donned the tools of ignorance for one inning in the majors this year and eight in Triple-A. With Austin Wynns likely to become the primary catcher in Bart’s absence, the Giants could use a veteran backstop on hand in order for Wynns to get the occasional day off. As such, Knapp will step in with Mercedes heading back to the minors.
Knapp, 30, was a second-round draft pick of the Phillies and spent the first five years of his career there. From 2017 to 2021, he hit .214/.314/.322. A switch-hitter, he’s generally been better as a lefty against right-handed pitchers, although he’s been subpar on each side. He has a 54 wRC+ against lefties and a 73 against righties.
He was outrighted by the Phillies at the end of last season and has leaned into journeyman status since then. He signed a minors deal with the Reds in December but didn’t make the Opening Day roster. He was released and signed with the Pirates, getting designated for assignment after over a month with the Bucs. He then signed a minors deal with the Mariners, eventually getting called up and spending about two weeks with them before getting designated again and landing with the Giants on another minors deal. Between all those transactions, he’s hit .114/.205/.143 in 13 big league games but .259/.316/.540 in 47 Triple-A games.
Vasquez, 28, has seen very scattered MLB action in his career, logging 13 1/3 innings since the start of the 2018 season. He began this year by signing a big league deal with the Blue Jays, although he spent most of his time optioned to Triple-A. He lost his spot on the 40-man roster at the end of August as the Jays made other acquisitions, landing with the Phillies on waivers. The Phillies also kept him in the minors, designating him for assignment two weeks later. The Giants followed the same playbook, claiming him off waivers and sending him to Triple-A before designating him a couple of weeks later. Across those three organizations, he’s thrown 19 1/3 Triple-A innings on the year with a 1.86 ERA, 36.5% strikeout rate and 4.1% walk rate. Given those solid results and the fact that left-handed relief is always in demand, it seems like a decent bet he’ll find interest on the waiver wire.
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