The Giants claimed catcher Sam Huff off waivers from the Rangers and designated reliever Austin Warren for assignment in a corresponding move. Both teams have announced their end of the transaction.
Huff, 27 next week, once ranked not just as the Rangers’ top catching prospect but one of the top 100 prospects in the sport. He’s appeared in parts of four big league seasons now but has played sparingly in recent seasons. He’s appeared in 78 big league games and slashed .258/.313/.455 with 10 homers in 214 plate appearances. It’s quality production overall, but Huff has also benefited from a .353 average on balls in play while fanning in just over one-third of his big league plate appearances.
Huff barely saw the majors last season, in large part due to prolonged struggles in Triple-A. Despite prior success at the top minor league level, he slashed .246/.310/.416 in Round Rock last year. That looks solid enough relative to major league averages, particularly for catchers, but it was 21% worse than league-average (by measure of wRC+) in the hyper-charged offensive environment in the Pacific Coast League. He also struck out in 31.4% of his plate appearances at Triple-A.
There are defensive question marks with Huff as well. Listed at 6’4″ and 240 pounds, he’s one of the largest catchers in the game. He’s drawn poor marks for his framing, blocking and throwing behind the plate, which perhaps isn’t a huge surprise given the rarity with which players of his size can stick behind the dish. The Rangers have also given him time at first base and designated hitter in an effort to get his bat into the lineup more often in Triple-A, but last year’s downturn in production and a lack of minor league options squeezed Huff off the roster in Texas.
The Giants have a fair bit of catching depth already, with starter Patrick Bailey and backups Tom Murphy and Blake Sabol all on the 40-man roster. Huff can’t head to Triple-A due to his lack of minor league options, but he could potentially give San Francisco a third catcher in the majors and a platoon partner for lefty-hitting first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. If not, it’s possible the Giants will eventually designate Huff themselves and attempt to pass him through waivers in an effort to retain him as non-roster depth.
Warren, 28, missed the bulk of the 2024 season recovering from Tommy John surgery but returned to toss 10 2/3 innings of 1.69 ERA ball down the stretch for the Giants. He agreed to a deal avoiding arbitration earlier this offseason, though per FanGraphs’ Jon Becker, he’ll be guaranteed only the $350K minor league split on that deal in the wake of this DFA.
That split could also make it easier for Warren to clear waivers, at which point the Giants could retain him as non-roster depth. In 48 2/3 innings across parts of four MLB seasons, Warren has a 3.14 ERA with an 18.8% strikeout rate and 7.4% walk rate. The Giants can explore trade possibilities for the next five days but will have to place Warren on waivers if no deal comes together by that point.