While much of the attention around the San Francisco Giants’ 3-0 home win over the Miami Marlins Thursday was centered on celebrity rabbit guest Alex, there was a feat of note on the field as well. Giants’ catcher Curt Casali became the fifth MLB catcher since 1900 to start in five consecutive shutouts, and he was the first on that list to do so while catching five different starters:
Curt Casali has now caught a shutout in each of his last 5 starts for the @SFGiants.
He's the 5th catcher in modern MLB history (since 1900) to catch a shutout in 5 or more consecutive starts, and the first to do it with 5 different starting pitchers (h/t @EliasSports). pic.twitter.com/9yCIgZvxVF
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) April 23, 2021
Curt Casali is the 5th catcher in the modern era (since 1900) with at least 5 straight shutouts in his starts, joining:
2015 Francisco Cervelli
1995 Chris Hoiles
1986 Alan Ashby
1903 Ed Phelps (6 straight)And 1st to do it with 5 different starting pitchers!
(h/t @EliasSports)
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) April 23, 2021
On this night, Casali caught five shutout innings from starter Aaron Sanchez, then single shutout innings from Gregory Santos, Matt Wisler, Tyler Rogers and Jake McGee (seen at right above with Casali). He also hit a two-run single in the first. And while he was brought in as a backup to Buster Posey, he’s proven very effective in handling the Giants’ pitching staff, as manager Gabe Kapler noted afterwards:
“Tomorrow is a tough decision between the best catcher in Giants history and the guy who is certain to catch a shutout,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “I have my work cut out for me.”
When Posey is healthy, the Giants are still likely to go to him more often, especially as he’s hitting .310/.370/.619 this year to Casali’s .095/.208/.143. But Casali has proven to be a tremendous backup catcher, and has done great work with San Francisco’s pitching staff. And that’s particularly notable after a 2020 season where Posey opted out and where the Giants couldn’t seem to get consistent catching. Now, they have two catchers who do a great job of calling games, and that’s a good problem to have.
[The Mercury News; photo from John Hefti/USA Today Sports]
