Catching prospect Drew Cavanaugh is in the Giants lineup tonight, per Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. Fellow catcher Daniel Susac is heading to the injured list with a back injury. Cavanaugh is not officially on the 40-man roster yet, so the Giants will need to make a corresponding move to add him.
Cavanaugh, 24, was a 17th-round pick of the club in 2023. He has since been climbing the minor league ladder without a lot of fanfare. Baseball America has never ranked him as one of the club’s top 30 prospects.
He has some helium this year. Splitting his time between Double-A and Triple-A, he has a combined lined of .311/.449/.550 and a 164 wRC+. That performance is propped up by a massive .402 batting average on balls in play but Cavanaugh has also been doing his part with nine home runs and a huge 15.4% walk rate. His 24.2% strikeout rate is a bit high but only by a couple of ticks. Earlier this month, FanGraphs ranked him the #17 prospect in the system. That report praised his well-rounded game, highlighting both his work in the batter’s box and behind the plate.
More to come.
