Future Outlook Not Bright for San Francisco Giants Behind the Plate

It has been a strong first quarter of the season for the San Francisco Giants. Entering play Saturday with a 26-19 record puts them third in the daunting National League West, sixth in the National League overall, and eighth in Major League Baseball.

The success this year comes from many of their players taking another step forward in their development and levels of production, though one player has failed to do so and has even regressed offensively, catcher Patrick Bailey.

The Giants know catching; their current president of baseball operations, Buster Posey, is a franchise legend and one of the best catchers the sport has ever seen. But where Posey was an all-around threat, capable of doing damage at the plate and in the field, Bailey only does one of those things, though he does it exceptionally well.

A recent article from Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report ranked catchers throughout the game of baseball for how he predicted they would sit amongst their peers in 2030. Bailey was predicted to be the 24th-best catcher in five years.

San Francisco Giants Catcher Patrick Bailey Ranks 24th Amongst Catchers for 2030

"Bailey is the best defensive catcher in baseball," writes Miller, "but will he ever hit enough to be more than just a one-dimensional contributor? He batted .234/.298/.339 over 448 plate appearances last season, and has a .179/.228/.250 line with zero home runs in his first 39 games this year. His floor is Austin Hedges if he doesn't take a step forward at the plate."

While a floor of Austin Hedges is nothing to shake a stick at (the veteran is one of the best defensive catchers of this century), being good defensively generally leads to a role as a full-time backup option.

Hedges is in his 11th season of MLB, and he has played 100 or more games only three times. Bailey played 121 games last year and is on pace for much more than that in 2025, but it is more from a lack of options than necessity.

Bailey is 26 years old and carries a career OPS of .619 across 928 plate appearances with a 76 OPS+. The defense may be some of the best in the sport today, but the offense is some of the worst, and the catcher may be running out of time to improve upon it.