“Watch my brother Daniel,” Andrew said of his then 13-year-old sibling. “He’s going to be better than me.”

While Andrew Susac eventually played 114 games with four different teams — the last with Pittsburgh in 2010 — 11 years later, Andrew now closely watches and helps coach Daniel, 25, as he makes a move towards his MLB debut with the same team as his older brother.

Related: Great Expectations: The Andrew Susac Story

“He (Andrew) would always say that,” Daniel Susac says with a laugh Sunday outside his locker at West Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park, as, in a true family full-circle moment, was preparing to be the Giants’ starting catcher in the annual exhibition against the team’s top affiliate Sacramento River Cats.

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On Wednesday morning in advance of their season opener at Oracle Park it became official — Daniel Susac made San Francisco’s final roster after making a huge impression during spring training. Daniel’s pending MLB debut came after a whirlwind December that saw the 2022 first-round Oakland A’s draft pick left unprotected in the Rule 5 draft, then grabbed by the Minnesota Twins, before being traded to the Giants in just a matter of hours.

“My brothers told me (about the Giants trade),” says Daniel, who went to Jesuit High School, played with the Lincoln Potters summer college team and was drafted out of the University of Arizona. “They were like, hey, I think you got traded to the Giants. And then I got a call about an hour later. We were all excited, pumped up, especially Andrew, you know, obviously with the roots there.”

At 6-foot-5 and 210 pounds, whenever he makes his MLB debut, the right-handed batting Daniel Susac will be one of the tallest catchers to ever play the game. With the possible Giants backup catcher role behind starter Patrick Bailey in his sights, Susac had a solid spring training, with a .300-plus batting average and two home runs in more than 40 plate appearances, impressing Giants’ first-year manager Tony Vitello, who says he has followed the younger Susac since his high school days.

“I think he’s progressed a lot from when I saw him in high school,” says Vitello, who won the NCAA championship as the head coach at Tennessee in 2024. “It’s been fun to watch what he looked like then and what he looks like now, and also get to know him. He’s a pretty mature kid, which is a necessity for that position. I think he’s gotten more and more comfortable, and you’ve seen his personality shine through a little bit more as of late, and that’s key. We want all of our guys to be comfortable in their own skin, and, you know, come to work every day and have fun.”

Daniel Susac ended up getting a single in three at-bats during the exhibition, as the River Cats downed the Giants 2-1, with Sacramento riding home runs by Giants top prospect Bryce Eldridge, who had just been sent down to Sacramento the day before, and Nate Furman to get the win before 12,479 fans enjoying the 80-degree spring evening.

Heading into a new season the annual match-up with the River Cats always provides ample storylines and optimism, especially with 2026 being the second year of the unprecedented Sutter Health Park sharing arrangement with the MLB’s Athletics, who plan to play again in Sacramento next year before moving into a new stadium in Las Vegas for the 2028 season.

Related: ‘We’ve Shown Sacramento the Best Baseball in the World’: First Year With A’s in Sacramento Draws a Total 1.1 Million Fans

Within the Giants organization, however, this year the focus is on Vitello, the first manager to come straight from the college ranks without any professional playing or coaching experience, as he tries to evaluate new players and take over a franchise that hasn’t made the playoffs since its 107-win 2021 season.

“It’s been quite chaotic, just to be honest with you, just because there’s a lot of things going on leading up to (the opener with the Yankees) Wednesday,” Vitello says during a pre-game dugout interview with reporters, alluding to whether he’s maturing in the new job. “Yeah, I would love to say that I’ve matured a bunch; I think we’re light years away from that happening, but I think for me, I’ve always considered myself a little bit of a control freak, but … even more so with spring training, what I’ve learned is, you’re so much better off letting other people take weight off your shoulders and to delegate.”

Utilized Sunday in advance of the MLB season was a new Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System, that will allow players to appeal home plate umpire ball-and-strike calls — initiated by a tap of the helmet — using video tracking technology. ABS technology had been used in different experimental forms at several minor league parks the past few years, including at Sutter Health Park. Teams will have two challenges by pitchers, catchers or batters per game, with additional challenges if a call is overturned, adding a new strategy deciding how calls are disputed.

ABS will be used at Sutter Health Park during all of the scheduled River Cats and A’s games in 2026. The River Cats open their season at Sutter Health on Friday, March 27 against El Paso, while the A’s open April 3 against Houston.

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