IF/OF Brett Wisely called up, C Patrick Bailey reinstated from 7-day concussion IL

The San Francisco Giants announced a series of roster moves this afternoon that, hopefully, will make the team better right away.

The team’s best position player, catcher Patrick Bailey, returns from the 7-day concussion IL. It’s the second concussion of his major league career (and second within the past 8 months) and it might not be the last. Katie Woo wrote for The Athletic a couple of days ago (subscription required) about how catcher’s interference calls are way up and catcher injuries, too, thanks to a repositioning of catchers for framing purposes.

Catcher’s interference calls continue to skyrocket at a historic pace. The average catcher’s interference total from 2010 to 2018 was 31. This year, it’s been called 33 times — less than two months in.

MLB’s concerns were already growing. There are more than double the interferences in 2024 compared to the 2022 season at the same point (15). The league is on pace for a record 148 catchers interferences this season. The push to frame the lower strike has inadvertently put the safety of catchers in jeopardy.

Bailey’s two concussions were based on pretty standard catcher plays that had nothing to do with his positioning (a collision at home plate in September and a foul tip in Philadelphia), but concussions are quite serious and it’s almost beside the point thinking about how his return could help the team when I, personally, just care about his health.

But most people, the team especially, are concerned about how he can help the Giants. They were just 2-5 in his absence, about what one might’ve expected when his backups are Tom Murphy (who hit the IL almost immediately), Blake Sabol (who has looked better defensively than he did last year), and Jakson Reetz (who seemed fine). Bailey is such a quantum leap from those players that you’d have to believe he makes a huge difference. And, literally, he was the team’s best position player before the concussion.

I last thought about Brett Wisely back in this May 1st post talking about how to think about the team one month into the season.

DO think about the prospects in the farm system

It’s nice to imagine that the front office’s perfect offseason means a perfect roster all season, but we know that’s not how things tend to shake out.

Heliot Ramos lead the River Cats with 7 home runs to go along with a .296/.381/.582 line. Casey Schmitt’s at 5 and leads the team in hits with 31. Brett Wisely had a 2-homer game yesterday and has a triple slash of .330/.438/.557. Meanwhile, Mason Black has 25 strikeouts against 5 walks in 22.2 IP (5 starts) and a 1.19 ERA.

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The Giants will need to call up some help at some point, whether from injury or ineffectiveness.

Hey would you look at that! All four of those players are now on the major league roster and three of them will be starting tonight.

Slater’s tough season is only getting worse. Again, concussions are quite serious and so here’s a situation where validating his health concerns might be the pause he and the Giants need to deal with whatever else might be going on. Though, of course, hopefully, he recovers and is feeling better a week from now. For those who don’t have to manage the Giants books, I understand the temptation to simply cut ties with the guy, and the Giants have shown courage when it comes to making moves that are well within their right, but let’s all considering pausing our passion for his dismissal from the roster for now.

Jakson Reetz is the exact kind of backup catcher depth teams need and it’s good he’s there in case they need him again. I like that they’re going with the left-handed Sabol as the backup for now. I think that makes a lot of sense. We know he hits for power and has decent pitch selection, and the team’s left-handed bench options have been limited.