15. Blake Sabol, C
Once a pretty famous high school prospect, Sabol went to USC, where he moved out from behind the plate and to the outfield (including spending a little bit of time in center) after his freshman year. He slashed .268/.333/.375 in college, not great for what had become a corner outfield prospect. Over time, the Pirates moved him back behind the plate, increasing his reps until he was mostly catching (while playing some left field) in 2022. Sabol has raked through the minors, but as an old-for-the-level regular, culminating in a huge 2022: .284/.363/.497 with 51 extra-base hits as a 24-year old at Double- and Triple-A. After a fair Fall League stint, the Pirates decided not to roster Sabol and exposed him to the Rule 5 Draft, which is how (after a trade with the Reds) he ended up with San Francisco, a club often intrigued by guys who can catch and do other stuff.
Sabol’s arm strength is okay, but it takes him so long to get out of his crouch that his pop times often play in the 2.05-2.15 range, which is not good. Among the many changes the Giants made to his approach back there is that he’s more likely to cut it loose from his knees,
Erik Kratz style, as a way of avoiding how long it takes to get his huge frame up out of his crouch. Sabol used to be a stiff, one-knee’d receiver, but the Giants have him moving around much more, sometimes starting in a traditional crouch before going to a knee as the ball is in flight (or about to be). It’s a better look than what he was doing with Pittsburgh, but we just won’t know exactly how well Sabol can throw until he gets more reps with his new style. In his big league innings so far, his back-picks to first and his throws on attempted steals of third have been from his knees, whereas he’s gone back to popping out of his crouch on throws to second. The results haven’t been favorable, with the long pop-times to second resulting in a lot of successfully stolen bases. It’s important for Sabol to catch part-time because he likely doesn’t have the hit tool to profile as a corner outfielder. He has thus far performed around league average, albeit with a high strikeout rate, while splitting his time between catching and playing left field. He’s a super cool role player, a backup catcher plus a little more.