{"id":334746,"date":"2025-09-23T02:15:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T02:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/334746\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T02:15:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T02:15:10","slug":"sf-giants-call-top-catching-prospect-jesus-rodriguez-to-be-on-taxi-squad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/334746\/","title":{"rendered":"SF Giants call top catching prospect Jesus Rodriguez to be on taxi squad"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 A week after calling up<\/a> top prospect Bryce Eldridge<\/a>, the Giants have another prospect joining the big league team \u2014 albeit in a more limited capacity.<\/p>\n

Catcher Jesus Rodriguez, acquired in the trade that sent closer Camilo Doval to the New York Yankees<\/a>, has been added to the taxi squad ahead of the Giants\u2019 final homestand of the year. San Francisco doesn\u2019t plan to activate him for the team\u2019s final six games of the regular season, but Rodriguez will spend this week catching bullpens, taking batting practice and being around the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey told me to get to know the guys here, get to know how everything works, just be around the guys and get used to it,\u201d Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez, 23, didn\u2019t spend a ton of time catching in the Yankees\u2019 system due to New York\u2019s abundance of catching prospects, catching only 172 games over six seasons in the minors. Along with catching, Rodriguez has played first base, second base, third base and left field to get his bat in the lineup. As of now, Rodriguez is a full-time catcher.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re excited about him,\u201d said catching coach Alex Burg. \u201cThis is his first year catching a ton, so it\u2019s exciting to have him back there. You see the arm, the arm is impressive. He can really throw. It\u2019s quick and has really good carry. He has a chance to be a truly plus thrower.<\/p>\n

\u201cCatching wise, it\u2019s getting there. It\u2019s much better than I expected. We got him out there today and it\u2019s fun to see. He\u2019s a worker, which I love. He\u2019s willing to listen, willing to learn, wants to get better. All those things are super exciting for us and for the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless of position, Rodriguez has showcased a fascinating hit tool. Over 406 games, Rodriguez owns a career slash line of .309\/.395\/.453 with 32 home runs. Upon joining Triple-A Sacramento, Rodriguez hit .322\/.399\/.401 with two homers and 16 RBIs across 39 games.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s my favorite guy to hit behind,\u201d Eldridge said. \u201cIf there\u2019s two outs, I know if I\u2019m standing on deck, I\u2019m going to get up to the plate. Even if he\u2019s 0-2, he\u2019s one of those guys you always expect to get a hit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with learning San Francisco\u2019s pitching staff, the next week will provide Rodriguez with an opportunity to work alongside fellow catchers Patrick Bailey and Andrew Knizner. Bailey enters Monday leading all defenders in Fielding Run Value<\/a> (31) and is on his way to winning a second consecutive Gold Glove Award, while Knizner has caught 302 games in the majors over seven seasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust watching those guys, they have a lot of experience so I\u2019m happy to be here and around them,\u201d Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I brought it up to them that (Jesus) might come up, they were like, \u2018Good, bring him. We want to teach him,’\u201d Burg said. \u201cThis group has been incredible. You watch those two, Knizner and Bailey look like brothers the way that they interact. They have so much fun together, so to bring in another good kid into that mix is going to be a lot of fun. I know it\u2019s only a week, but I\u2019m excited to watch them go through their whole routines together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rodriguez won\u2019t make his debut this week barring a change of plans, but Melvin said Rodriguez will get a \u201chard look\u201d during spring training and be considered for next year\u2019s roster. Given the Giants\u2019 lack of production from their backstops \u2014 the San Francisco\u2019s catchers have an MLB-worst .592 OPS \u2014 Rodriguez could play his way onto the Opening Day roster as an offensively-minded backup catcher.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it shows that they see us as a big piece of the team next year,\u201d Eldridge said. \u201cI think it\u2019s a big thing kind of getting it out of the way and giving us a taste of it and what it\u2019s going to be like. \u2026 For me, let me work some things out and get some struggles out of the way. It gives us a lot of confidence being here and being a part of this team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally Published: September 22, 2025 at 6:39 PM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 A week after calling up top prospect Bryce Eldridge, the Giants have another prospect joining…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":334747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2408],"tags":[5,5776,2178,162,5774,5775,853,4,5777,378,5778,66,4343,4340,4344,4341,4342,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-334746","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco-giants","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-bay-area","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-giants","12":"tag-giants-hq","13":"tag-inside-sports","14":"tag-latest-headlines","15":"tag-mlb","16":"tag-peninsula","17":"tag-san-francisco","18":"tag-san-francisco-county","19":"tag-san-francisco-giants","20":"tag-sanfrancisco","21":"tag-sanfranciscogiants","22":"tag-sf","23":"tag-sf-giants","24":"tag-sfgiants","25":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115251204981519850","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}