Knizner spent the second half of the 2025 season with the Giants. He had started the season in Triple-A with the Nationals, but was released in mid-May. He signed a minor league deal with San Francisco and jumped onto the MLB roster a few weeks later. Knizner worked behind Patrick Bailey for the remainder of the season. The presence of a two-time Gold Glove winner meant he didn’t get much playing time, although he had a brief run as the starting catcher when Bailey missed a week and a half with a neck injury.
The 30-year-old Knizner (31 in February) started 28 of his 32 appearances behind the dish. He stepped to the plate 88 times and hit .221/.299/.299 with one home run. Knizner played parts of seven MLB seasons between the Cardinals, Rangers and Giants. He owns a .211/.281/.316 batting line in just under 1,000 career plate appearances. The former seventh-round pick has a much better slash of .292/.387/.443 over 583 trips to the plate at the Triple-A level.
Knizner has caught more than 2,200 Major League innings. His defensive numbers early in his career weren’t great because the public statistics weren’t favorable to his fielding frame. In that regard, he has scored closer to average over the past two seasons, although his blocking hasn’t been as strong. His arm strength is mediocre and he has thrown out a below-average 16.4% of baserunners over the last four years.
San Francisco opted not to tender Knizner a contract for his final year of arbitration. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz had projected him for a modest salary of $1.3 million, but the Giants want to leave the door open for rookie Jesus Rodriguez to win the backup job in camp. Seattle does not have a second catcher on their 40-man roster. Mitch Garver entered Free Agency and they traded rookie Harry Ford for lefty reliever Jose A. Ferrer last week.
Knizner has more than five years of MLB service and cannot be sent to the minors without his consent. If he signed a big league deal, he would enter camp as the presumptive No. 2 catcher. The Mariners will likely continue to look for depth options via waivers or minor league free agency to push him for that spot, but it’s not a position they should spend a lot of resources on. Raleigh will be in the lineup almost every day as a catcher or design hitter. He started 119 games and was behind the plate for 1,072 innings last season. Only JT Realmuto and William Contreras had a heavier workload.
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