State native Casali grateful to be back with Giants
The San Francisco Giants are bringing back old friend Curt Casali to supplement a depleted catching corps.
Casali, part of the 2021 Giants team that won a franchise-best 107 games, signed a one-year contract on Wednesday prior to the Giants’ series finale against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
After playing a Triple-A game for the Cubs’ Iowa team at Syracuse on Tuesday night, Casali got a text from his agent “saying ‘Pack your stuff! ’” Casali said. “I think I probably shed a tear — coming back here is like coming home.”
At 35, Casali, a New Canaan native, wasn’t sure if he’d get another bigleague shot, but he was hitting .362 in 23 games with Iowa after working on his swing with former A’s player John Mabry, and he knows some of the Giants pitching staff well.
Despite his coast-to-coast travel, Casali went straight into the lineup, catching his old friend Logan Webb. “I don’t need a day off,” he said. “I’m good to go. I’m ready to play and have some fun.”
Casali, who played 41 games with the Giants in 2022 before being traded in August to the Mariners, had been considering front-office and coaching jobs before the season, or just taking time off. Then the Cubs gave him a shot, and now here he is back at Oracle Park.
“The Cubs threw me a bone and I’m very thankful for them to give me that opportunity and said, ‘Let’s give it another shot,’ ” Casali said. “But to be able to come back here, I don’t feel like I’m really deserving of that just because of the great times I’ve had here. I’m so, so incredibly thankful to be back here and to get another chance in the big leagues, especially in a place that I love so much.”
“I think that just shows
how much he loves the game still and how much passion he has and how much he believes that he still has a lot more to give,” Giants outfielder Mike Yastrzemski said. “I talked to him before to see where he was headed and if he talked to anyone. He said it was pretty up in the air, so I wasn’t too hopeful. But knowing the type of player he is and how he can control a staff, I was really hoping we’d be able to have him here to work with our guys.”
Yastrzemski is one of Casali’s best friends, and when he texted Yastrzemski late Tuesday, Casali said his buddy “said some expletives and said, ‘I can’t wait to give you a hug.’ ”
Then, following the Giants’ tradition of pranking Casali whenever possible, players greeted Casali with a blast of confetti Wednesday. “It scared the absolute s— out of me,” Casali said, sounding thoroughly delighted.
Casali was a popular clubhouse figure with the
Giants, a low-key leader, and the pitchers loved throwing to him. He had a string of five consecutive shutouts caught in 2021, becoming only the fifth catcher in the modern era to do so. He’s an adult-inthe-room type, which could be just what a struggling team dealing with injuries to seven regulars needs.
“Sometimes it’s nice to see a friendly face and it can it can spark something,” Casali said. “Hopefully it can be a little bit of a spark for the boys and and get a win over the Dodgers tonight.”
Yastrzemski said Casali will bring stability and is “someone who’s really dedicated to his craft and that’s just a great example for everyone in the clubhouse to see how he prepares for facing the next lineup and making adjustments day-to-day and pitch-by-pitch. It’s something that is going to be really good for us to see and to be around. He’s got a positive personality, just loves to have fun in here and to be doing his best.”
Tom Murphy, out at least four weeks with a knee sprain injured in Philadelphia, was moved to the 60-day injured list to make room on the 40man roster. Jakson Reetz was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento.
The move comes in the wake of a rough stretch for the Giants behind the plate. Murphy’s injury came a game after Patrick Bailey took a foul ball to the facemask and landed on the 7-day concussion IL. He was cleared to return Saturday, but was placed back on the concussion IL Tuesday retroactive to Sunday.
Filling in for the two injured catchers, Blake Sabol struggled to keep pitches in front of him as well as throw runners out trying to steal a base.
Casali played for the Cincinnati Reds last season and hit .175 with a .490 OPS in 40 games. In 118 games with the Giants, Casali batted .218 with a .675 OPS.