Like all scrappy bench players, Christian Koss touched hearts and minds. Everybody loves an underdog and here is a guy who looks overmatched against big league pitching yet hanging in there anyway. It was just this past December when our own Steven Kennedy lavished 1,481 words on Christian Koss’s utility role in 2025, ending his player review with the question, “was [that] the best utility season in Giants history?” Like most baseball stories, though, it has encountered the inelegant prose of reality.
To make room for a third catcher, the Giants have optioned the 28-year old Koss back to Triple-A Sacramento ahead of this evening’s game between the Giants and the Athletics in… Sacramento. The River Cats are in Texas playing the Rangers’ Triple-A team that Round Rock Express. Unclear if he needs to travel to Texas to play three games or wait for them to return to Sacramento for a 6-game homestand against the same time. He had just 15 plate appearances across 9 games for and was 1-for-14. He also pitched two innings and allowed three runs. He was, effectively, a garbage time player, a near-180 degree turn from last year, when the front office seemed really excited to get him onto the Opening Day roster any way they could.
He’s out and in is the new flavor of the month, the Rule 5 pick Daniel Susac. He was 11-for-23 in 11 games before hitting the IL with a right ulnar neuritis injury. Not a good thing for a catcher to have with his throwing arm, and not a bat the Giants really could afford to lose. The Giants were just 4-7 with him and have gone 9-13 since, so, it’s not like he’s the straw that stirs the drink. On the other hand, the Giants are attempting to rebuild their catcher position in the aggregate through adding average-ish gloves with average-ish bats in hopes that enough average can overcome the offensive gravity well that Patrick Bailey’s bat had created in the lineup, the thing that compelled the Giants to finally trade him.
But Susac shoving Bailey aside is notable. The Giants drafted him as a Rule 5 and just a few months later he’s taking over as the #1 catcher on the depth chart. A little offense at the catcher position goes a long way with these Giants.
Still, it must be noted that the Giants are now carrying three catchers: Daniel Susac, Eric Haase, and Jesus Rodriguez. In theory, Rodriguez is Koss 2.0, while Susac and Haase are… hmm, not exactly Patrick Bailey. Maybe some sort of Hector Sanchez/Eli Whiteside situation, only… these are a lot of average-at-best right-handed bats to have on a roster. The bench is now Eldridge, Rodriguez, Haase, and Gilbert.