Meet Daniel Susac, a Rule 5 Catcher Following His Brother's Path
A December draft most fans ignore sent the Giants a rookie who hit safely in his first five at-bats, then kept his roster spot the hard way.
Daniel Susac's first five big-league at-bats all ended in hits. By the Giants' count, reported by NBC Sports Bay Area, no Giant had done that since 1974. I went looking for how a catcher like that reaches San Francisco, and the answer runs through a winter draft most fans never watch.
Where he came from
Susac was born on May 14, 2001, in Roseville, California, and played at Jesuit High School in Carmichael, near Sacramento. He first committed to Oregon State, where his brother had played, then chose the University of Arizona instead and was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year in 2021. The Athletics took him 19th overall in the 2022 draft and signed him for $3.5 million, per his Wikipedia biography. He reached Triple-A Las Vegas in 2025.
That winter Oakland did not add him to its 40-man roster, which left him exposed to a draft with a strange set of rules.
How the Rule 5 draft works, briefly
Every December, MLB's Rule 5 draft lets teams with open 40-man spots claim certain unprotected minor leaguers from other clubs. According to MLB.com's glossary, the drafting club pays $100,000 and must keep the player on its 26-man roster. To send him down, it has to put him on waivers and offer him back to his old club for $50,000. He also needs at least 90 active days, or those restrictions carry into the next season.
On December 10, 2025, the Minnesota Twins took Susac fourth overall and traded him to San Francisco. That meant the Giants had to carry a rookie catcher all year or give him back.
The start nobody scripted
His first career start came on April 2, 2026, against the Mets. He went 3-for-3 with a walk. OptaSTATS noted that the last catcher with three or more hits and a walk in his first start was Mike Piazza, on September 1, 1992. Five days later, against the Phillies, he singled twice more, and the run reached five hits in five at-bats. The Giants added that the last player in all of MLB to do it was Ted Cox, in 1977.
The Giants later traded catcher Patrick Bailey to Cleveland, which NBC Sports Bay Area said opened room for Susac. His defense became the real story. By August he ranked sixth among big-league catchers in Fielding Run Value.
The foul ball in August
On Sunday, August 9, in a 3-1 loss to Detroit, Susac fouled a ball off his left kneecap. X-rays were negative. An MRI the next day showed a patella fracture, and Wikipedia's entry says he later moved to the 60-day injured list. If his season is over, NBC reported, he finishes with a .664 OPS and three home runs. The same report said he spent just enough time on the active roster for the Giants to keep his rights, so there is no return trip to the Athletics.
The injury handed the job to Drew Cavanaugh, a 24-year-old who, NBC noted, began the season in Double-A with no obvious path to the majors. As for next spring, the same report expects Susac to arrive as the favorite to start behind the plate, while adding that the Giants like all three of their young catchers. That is a far better place than a Rule 5 pick usually lands.
I think what he did was incredibly impressive, and it really started right out of the shoot in spring training.
The other Susac behind the plate
Here is the family part. His older brother, Andrew Susac, was also a catcher, and he debuted for the Giants on July 26, 2014. That team won the World Series, so the elder Susac owns a ring from the same franchise his little brother now catches for.
One more coincidence caught my eye. Andrew's last big-league game, with Pittsburgh, came on September 27, 2020. The Giants played their 2026 finale on September 27, exactly six years later, with his brother's rookie season already in the books. We are not suggesting it means anything. We just liked it.
Sources
Every factual claim above traces to one of these. Links open in a new tab.
