Giants Sign Andrew Knizner To Minor League Deal

The Giants signed catcher Andrew Knizner to a minor league contract. The deal was first mirrored on the MLB.com transaction log. He has already made his organizational debut, amassing hits in every of his first three at-bats with Triple-A Sacramento.

Knizner is selecting up the place he’d left off as a member of the Nationals group. The 30-year-old had raked at a .382/.516/.500 clip with extra walks than strikeouts over 23 video games for his or her prime affiliate. Washington however granted him his launch over the weekend. Knizner was set to set off an opt-out. The Nats most well-liked to stay with their present catching tandem of Keibert Ruiz and Riley Adams reasonably than override the opt-out by calling him up.

Whereas Knizner clearly isn’t going to maintain up this tempo, he’s a productive minor league hitter. He carried a .287/.379/.435 batting line over elements of 4 Triple-A seasons into play tonight. He has had a far harder time towards MLB pitching. Knizner is a profession .210/.279/.317 hitter in nearly 900 plate appearances on the huge league stage. He spent elements of 5 seasons backing up Yadier Molina and Willson Contreras, respectively, in St. Louis.

Knizner moved to Texas on a $1.825MM free agent deal heading into 2024. He spent a lot of the yr as Jonah Heim’s backup, however he didn’t carry out particularly nicely. Knizner hit .167/.183/.211 over 35 video games. Texas acquired Carson Kelly on the deadline and designated Knizner for project not lengthy after. He landed with the Diamondbacks by way of waiver declare. His time in Arizona consisted of twenty-two Triple-A video games. The Snakes outrighted him off their 40-man roster with out getting him into an enormous league contest.

Patrick Bailey is entrenched because the beginning catcher in San Francisco. Sam Huff hasn’t offered a lot in sporadic taking part in time because the backup. He’s hitting .200 with one homer and 22 strikeouts in 49 plate appearances. Knizner joins Max Stassi and Logan Porter as non-roster depth at Triple-A. Knizner has been the best of that trio within the minors this yr, probably positioning him as the highest challenger if the Giants resolve to maneuver on from the out-of-options Huff at any level.