Cardinals Fan-Favorite Landing In NL West With Giants

One former member of the St. Louis Cardinals has found a new home.

Former Cardinals catcher Andrew Knizner recently was released by the Washington Nationals. It didn’t take long for him to find a new home, though. Knizner reportedly signed a minor league deal with the San Francisco Giants, as shared by MLB Trade Rumors' Anthony Franco.

"The Giants signed catcher Andrew Knizner to a minor league contract," Franco said. "The deal was first reflected on the MLB.com transaction log. He has already made his organizational debut, collecting hits in each of his first three at-bats with Triple-A Sacramento.

"Knizner is picking up where he’d left off as a member of the Nationals organization. The 30-year-old had raked at a .382/.516/.500 clip with more walks than strikeouts over 23 games for their top affiliate. Washington nevertheless granted him his release over the weekend. Knizner was set to trigger an opt-out. The Nats preferred to stick with their current catching tandem of Keibert Ruiz and Riley Adams rather than override the opt-out by calling him up."

Knizner spent the first five years of his big league career as a member of the Cardinals. He was selected in the seventh round of the 2016 Major League Baseball June Amateur Draft out of North Carolina State University. Knizner made his big league debut in 2019 and spent time with the big league club through the 2023 season. He spent time with the Texas Rangers in 2024 and has been in the minors all season this year so far.