Catcher Sam Huff cleared waivers and was assigned outright to Triple-A Sacramento, in keeping with a report from Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports activities Bay Space. Huff had beforehand been designated for task by the membership earlier this week.
Huff, 27, was a seventh-round decide by the Rangers again in 2016 who was a consensus top-100 prospect in baseball again in 2020 and 2021. He made his massive league debut in the course of the shortened 2020 season and seemed totally sensational in a ten-game pattern, slashing .355/.394/.742 in his transient call-up to the majors that 12 months. That sturdy begin to Huff’s profession mixed together with his prospect standing to create big expectations, however he was sidelined by damage for a lot of the 2021 season and posted pedestrian numbers at Double-A when he was wholesome sufficient to play. He turned issues round after arriving at Triple-A, nevertheless, and his .260/.336/.533 slash line on the degree in 2022 was sufficient to earn him one other shot within the majors.
The backstop was typically a strong however unspectacular hitter within the majors throughout each the 2022 and ’23 campaigns. He bought into 65 video games in whole for the membership these years, and throughout his 177 plate appearances he hit .244/.299/.409 with a 98 wRC+. That’s simply 2% under league common, and barely higher than the common catcher slash line. Even so, Huff was by no means a very sturdy defender behind the plate, in order a bat-first catcher who was solely league common he shortly fell behind different choices on the Rangers depth chart like Jonah Heim. Even so, he continued to rake at Triple-A and confirmed sufficient offensive expertise that the membership continued to carry out hope for an eventual breakout.
Issues took a flip for the more serious in 2024, as Huff barely discovered use within the majors (showing in simply three video games with 4 whole plate appearances) and stopped hitting even on the Triple-A degree. After years of raking for the group’s Spherical Rock affiliate, Huff slashed simply .246/.310/.416 in 111 video games at Triple-A final 12 months. That’s not a horrible slash line in a vacuum, however when one components in each Huff’s standing as a then-26-year-old at Triple-A and the inflated offensive atmosphere of the Pacific Coast League, it’s simple to see that an 82 wRC+ at Triple-A wouldn’t minimize it. With Huff out of choices coming into 2025, the Rangers gave up on their longtime prospect and designated him for task.
That led him to affix the Giants, for whom he entered the season because the backup to defensive stalwart Patrick Bailey. Finally, Huff appeared in 20 video games with San Francisco and however hit simply .208/.259/.340 with a wRC+ of 68 in 58 plate appearances. Whereas he’s at all times been vulnerable to swing and miss, Huff’s 43.1% strikeout charge in a Giants uniform was downright alarming. Provided that lackluster efficiency, it’s hardly a shock that the Giants determined to go in one other course for his or her backup to Bailey. With that being stated, the membership clearly nonetheless valued Huff as a possible depth possibility behind the plate. He’ll return to Triple-A in the intervening time as a non-roster depth piece for the Giants, and if he goes by the tip of the season with out being added again to the 40-man roster he’ll be capable to elect minor league free company and hit the open marketplace for the primary time in his profession.
