Now in his fourth season in the big leagues, Bailey has accumulated a variety of defensive accolades. He is a two-time National League Gold Glove winner, the first catcher in Giants history to win multiple. He won the 2025 Fielding Bible Defensive Player of the Year, which recognizes the best overall defender in MLB, and has led basically every defensive category during his time in the majors.<\/p>\n
But his numbers at the plate have been particularly bad this year. He’s batting just .146 with an OPS in the .300s and just one extra-base hit. I’m sure everybody remembers it<\/a>. Despite that glaring lack of production, he’s still managed to make an impact. The team’s ERA jumps from 3.40 to around 4.70 when Bailey isn’t manning the catching position. More recently, in a game against the Rays, he put his defensive value on full display by throwing out three runners who were trying to steal a base.<\/p>\n A shakeup was necessary at catcher for Giants<\/p>\n But given how the Giants have performed early on, changes were needed. In response to those lingering struggles, president of baseball operations Buster Posey elected to call up Jesus Rodriguez<\/a>, a promising catcher with excellent bat-to-ball ability and a funky batting stance whom they acquired from the Yankees in the Camilo Doval trade. The move relegated Bailey to a bench role for three straight games, which marked the first time in his career he missed that many games when healthy enough to play. Instead of dwelling on his misery, Bailey used that time off to work on his swing.<\/p>\n “You got to make a choice of what to do with your time, and he made all the right choices in my opinion the last couple of days. But not one thing in particular that he honed in on,” said Tony Vitello about what Bailey has worked on during his consecutive days off.<\/p>\n Over the years, the Giants have been comfortable sacrificing their No. 9 spot in the lineup to Bailey and his .611 career OPS. His exceptional defensive abilities have always balanced his lack of offense. But that sacrifice only makes sense if the big bats around him are doing their part and generating enough offense, something they haven’t done this season.<\/p>\n Following the Giants’ 5-1 loss to the Padres on Wednesday afternoon, they now rank dead last in baseball in runs scored (115), home runs (23), walks (72), on-base percentage (.282), and OPS (.637). In dire situations like this one<\/a>, every spot in the lineup matters, and the team becomes desperate for one guy to heat up and spark a turnaround.<\/p>\n Therefore, Tony Vitello has turned more to Eric Haase and Jesus Rodriguez, who both proved during spring training and their time in Sacramento that they could provide that bottom-of-the-order jolt. Haase finished spring training with a .911 OPS along with two home runs and has gone 4-for-10 with two doubles in his limited time in the big leagues this season. <\/p>\n Meanwhile, after a compelling showing in spring training, when he posted a 1.037 OPS in 16 games, Rodriguez kept it up in Triple-A. He slashed .330\/.400\/.440 with an .840 OPS and two home runs in 24 appearances with the River Cats. He also racked up more walks (12) than strikeouts (11) and has carried that momentum onto the big stage. He’s already collected four hits in his first three games, driven in two runs \u2014 including one on an opposite-field home run, a rarity for a righty at Oracle Park \u2014 and has yet to strike out in nine plate appearances.<\/p>\n Career homer No. 1\ufe0f\u20e3<\/p>\n Have a night, Jes\u00fas Rodr\u00edguez! pic.twitter.com\/vC0pFLnuGG<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 SFGiants (@SFGiants) May 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Posey noticed that potential early on and is confident he’ll provide a boost going forward.<\/p>\n “I watched a ton of videos and what stood out to me is he just sprays the ball all over the field. Pretty poised at the plate, had the ability to adjust, he can keep his hands back enough to to hook the ball down the left field line, then he’ll shoot a ball the other way,” said Posey in an interview<\/a> with Alex Pavlovic and Kylen Mills.<\/p>\n Having three catchers on a major-league roster is rather uncommon, though a little less when two of them offer the versatility to play in the field as well. Rodriguez has made multiple starts at second base and left field during his time in the minors and in spring training. Haase has also gotten a few reps in left field throughout his nine-year career and could become a viable pinch-hitting option, something the Giants haven’t really used so far this season. <\/p>\n They’ve sent up just 18 players to the plate as pinch hitters, the fourth fewest in baseball, and have collected just two hits in those situations. Haase has a career .725 OPS against lefties, so having him hit late in games for players like Jung Hoo Lee or Drew Gilbert is another route Vitello can explore.<\/p>\n “We do have the benefit of having some guys on the bench that are very versatile, they’re not pigeonholed into one spot,” said Vitello. “So if we want to do something late in the game, which we just haven’t had as many opportunities or we’ve been a little limited on what guy can do off the bench. He’s (Haase) yet another guy who can go in there and catch. He can go to the outfield. He can pinch run. He can pinch bunt. He can pinch hit as a right-handed hitter. So I think Haase is the key to that.” <\/p>\n Vitello tapped into that valuable versatility by starting Rodriguez in right field in the series finale against the Padres, though he’s more accustomed to playing on the left side of the outfield. The day before the game, Vitello highlighted the difficulty of occupying the right corner at Oracle Park and inadvertently jinxed his young player.<\/p>\n “The pad in right field is a little tricky, where it’s, I believe it’s Oracle, shout out to Oracle there with the sponsorship. That part I think is a little tricky. I talked with Hunter Pence and I think there’s a lot of balls hit to right field here that guys don’t realize that are catchable. It just plays bigger,” said Vitello before Rodriguez’s first start in right field.<\/p>\n The jinx happened in the seventh inning on Wednesday, when Rodriguez went diving for a ball that appeared catchable at first sight but failed to collect it<\/a> as the ball glanced off his glove and into the deeper part of the park. Ty France drove in two runs as a result of that misplay and gave the Padres a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.<\/p>\n One thing Vitello has made clear over the last few days is that the Giants don’t have an everyday catcher right now<\/a>. They’re just looking for a guy who can provide an offensive spark, and they are treating the position as a day-to-day process depending on the matchups.<\/p>\n “It’s not a rule to have an everyday catcher, it is a rule to start the game with a catcher. You got people upstairs, people downstairs, people in all kinds of different rooms. Their opinions are all valued, we figure out what we want to do each day and, you know, for the most part we try to treat each day, I’m trying to treat it like it’s Game 7,” said Vitello following the Giants’ 10-5 loss.<\/p>\n The whole situation is already pretty messy, but it’s about to get even messier over the next couple of weeks. Daniel Susac, who posted a 1.152 OPS in 23 at-bats this season, is set to start his rehab assignment on Thursday after he was placed on the IL a couple of weeks ago with an elbow injury. The versatility of his catchers gives Vitello a ton of flexibility, but choices are going to have to be made. It’s worth noting that Bailey still has a minor-league option in case the coaching staff decides it’s best for him to get regular at-bats in Sacramento.<\/p>\n One thing is certain: the Giants need to start winning games at a consistent pace, and they need to start doing it soon. They’ve now dropped eight of their last nine games, lost three straight series, are tied with the Rockies for the worst record in the National League at 14-23, and have posted the worst run differential in the majors \u2014 and one spot in the lineup<\/a> alone won’t be enough to reverse that trend.<\/p>\n “We got to do better, I don’t think there is on guy you couldn’t say that to, coach or player. We got to do better and I think that needs to be the focus, and then the at-bats, the RBIs or the innings played and all that will follow.”<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\"){kind=icon}
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