The Rockies claimed catcher Elias Diaz off waivers earlier this week, and Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the Giants are among the teams that have expressed interest in Diaz now that he is a free agent and could potentially sign at the pro-league minimum salary. (Slusser reports that San Francisco had expressed some interest in Diaz before the trade deadline.) If Diaz signs by Aug. 31, he will be eligible for his new team’s postseason roster.
The Giants placed Patrick Bailey on the disabled list yesterday with a strained oblique muscle, leaving the team with a serious question mark over their catching depth. To accommodate Bailey’s stay on the disabled list, San Francisco has recalled veteran Jackson Reetz. Reetz will serve as the No. 2 catcher behind reserve-turned-starter Curt Casali, at least for now. Casali, 35, signed midseason but is batting just .205/.318/.233 in 86 plate appearances. Before his recall, the 28-year-old Reetz was batting just 2-for-16 in 17 plate appearances in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League with a .254/.368/.431 (wRC+ 102) batting average.
Diaz is better than that duo in virtually every way. It’s a stretch to even call him an average offensive player, given his lack of power and middling on-base percentages every year, but Diaz has solid contact skills and can at least hit for a fairly low batting average. He’s batting .270/.315/.378 (wRC+ 80) with Colorado this year, and has batted .251/.304/.388 from his 2010 plate appearance through the 2019 season.
Defensively, Diaz has been highly rated for his ability to block pitches on the ground, regularly recording above-average numbers in his prevented stolen base percentage, and while he has often been criticized for his poor pitch framing skills, he has had the best performance of his career in that area this season, resulting in his overall defensive skill rating being rated as positive (five defensive runs saved and above-average in outs).
Even with all his defensive improvements, Diaz still can’t match Bailey’s glovework during his injury, though that’s true of nearly every defender in the sport. The 25-year-old Bailey has quickly emerged as the best defensive catcher in the sport and one of the best defenders at any position, accumulating the best framing marks of anyone in MLB since his big league debut and preventing stolen bases in an impressive 30% of games. Digging deeper, Bailey is the best in the sport in Statcast’s “Above Average Stolen Bases Prevention” metric, which analyzes stolen base prevention situations based on the runner, the player on the mound, and how the runner jumps, and doesn’t treat everyone equally (after all, getting an Ellie de la Cruz out when she makes a nice jump is a lot harder than getting Hunter Renfroe out at the end of a double steal attempt).
After a strong start to the season, Bailey’s batting output has dwindled over the past six weeks, with him batting just .233/.299/.344 for the season. While this might make it seem like Diaz has at least improved offensively, it’s important to note that he’s struggled at the plate of late, too. He missed three weeks in June with a calf strain, and between his return and being designated for assignment, he batted just .208/.243/.264 in 111 at-bats.
That said, Diaz does have a track record of bringing the ball to the plate and offensive prowess that, while not quite league-average, is generally solid compared to other catchers (who tend to be below-average hitters, mainly due to the physical demands of the position). And with Bailey out and the replacements on the team, it makes a lot of sense that the Giants would be interested in betting on Diaz’s track record as they try to stay afloat in the tight race for the final National League wild card spot. The Braves currently hold the third-place wild card spot, just 2.5 games behind the Mets and 3.5 games behind the Giants.