Kansas City Royals: Team acquires Andrew Susac from Orioles

The Kansas City Royals have acquired catcher Andrew Susac from the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for cash considerations.

This is addition will provide more depth with a little major league experience among the Kansas City Royals backstops. Andrew Susac may not be a glamorous move, but it will go a long way in allowing the young catchers to properly develop in the farm system.

It has been a long journey for Susac, who started as a second round pick of the San Francisco Giants in 2011. He found his way to Milwaukee in 2016 as a part of the return package for Will Smith. Because of a crowded catching battle, he was eventually sold to Baltimore. Now, he was sold once again to the Royals.

Barring injury to Martin Maldonado or Cam Gallagher, Susac should spend the year in Triple A. He will have the experience to help along catchers at that level, and if he is absolutely needed, he can suit up in Kansas City.

He isn’t an extremely seasoned MLB veteran, just 300 plate appearances over parts of five seasons. Susac is coming off a year with the Orioles where we accumulated 26 at bats with a .115 batting average and a -39 wRC+.

Susac’s best season to date has been his first, in 2014. He only played 35 games, but hit .273. All in all, he was worth a 0.7 fWAR.

For a team that likes defense, he does not exactly jump off the page as a match, although he’s never gotten a true sample size. Regardless, he in four of the five seasons in the majors he’s posted a negative defensive runs saved, none lower than -0.4. The remaining season was, again, in 2014 where it was a 0.

This move is not glamorous or flashy, this move is a depth move. It brings experience to an organization that is trying to groom their future in the minors. Regardless, Susac will provide some value to the Kansas City Royals and for that he is, hopefully, going to be worth every penny paid for him.