Adrian Sugastey Looks To Lead Giants’ Next Catching Corps

Merely 18 years old last season when he hit .358/.405/.439 in the Arizona Complex League, Adrian Sugastey profiles as a “high-upside catcher,” in the words of Giants farm director Kyle Haines.

Haines said Sugastey “has shown the ability to have a good, quality at-bat while playing a more than competent catcher. He’s got an athletic frame and he’s a really smart kid who’s a quick learner.”

Though he didn’t display a lot of power last year—six doubles and two homers in 43 games—Haines believes Sugastey very well could blossom into someone who’s much more than a contact hitter. 

“He finds a way to get the bat on the ball,” Haines said, “and he shows that athletic ability and frame (6-foot-1, 190 pounds) that can put on more strength and power as it comes along.

“Some of the balls that are going over the infielders’ heads into the outfield will hopefully go off the wall or over it as he learns more about the art of hitting and gets more experience, more at-bats.”

Haines is high on Sugastey’s work behind the plate, even as controlling the running game has theoretically become less important.

“The one thing that really jumps off the page is he can really throw,” Haines said, “which isn’t the trendy thing to talk about.” Haines added that Sugastey “picks up on a lot of game-planning and game-calling things really quickly.” 

The Giants signed the Panama native in 2019. As of late February, Sugastey’s minor league assignment for this season was undetermined.

Catcher Joey Bart, whom the Giants’ drafted No. 2 overall in 2018, figures to spend this season in San Francisco after Buster Posey’s retirement.

The Giants still have 2020 first-rounder Patrick Bailey, Ricardo Genoves, Sugastey and Rayner Santana as catchers in their minor league system.

“Most teams are just hoping to have one good catcher,” Haines said. “We have discussions about multiple (catchers) . . .From our standpoint, it’s a good problem to have.”