Since being selected by the Oakland Athletics in the first round of the 2022 MLB Draft, Daniel Susac has made a steady climb through the minor leagues. But his path to the majors with the A’s was blocked by other catchers in the system.
As a result, the A’s did not put Susac on their 40-man roster this offseason, leaving him exposed in Wednesday’s Rule 5 Draft. The Minnesota Twins took Susac with the 4th overall pick but then traded him to the San Francisco Giants, where he could make his big league
debut in 2026.
Players selected in the Rule 5 Draft must remain on an MLB roster (or the injured list) for the entire season. They cannot be sent to the minors, instead they’re placed on waivers, where whoever claims them must follow the same requirement. If a Rule 5 player clears waivers he can be offered back to his original team for $50,000, which is half of the original payment made by the team that selected them in the draft.
Susac, 24, has hit .280 with a .785 OPS in four minor league seasons. In 2025 he hit .275 with 18 home runs and 68 RBI and an .832 OPS for Triple-A Las Vegas, helping the Aviators reach the Triple-A championship game.
With the Giants, Susac has a chance to be the backup to catcher Patrick Bailey or possibly beat him out for the starting job. Bailey hit just .222 with a .602 OPS in 135 games last season, his third in the majors with San Francisco.
Susac was the only position player taken in the Major League portion of the Rule 5 Draft—there’s a minor league version where players must remain at Triple-A or above the following season—out of 13 overall selections.
Three players drafted last season remained in the big leagues all of 2025 including Liam Hicks, who serves as the Miami Marlins’ backup catcher as a rookie.
At Arizona, Susac had two stellar seasons in 2021-22. He helped the Wildcats reach the College World Series as a freshman, winning Pac-12 Freshman of the Year honors, then was an All-American as a sophomore. He hit .351 with 24 homers and 126 RBI in 125 games, finishing with a career OPS of .998.
