The Twins announced that they’ve signed catcher Chance Sisco to a minor league contract and assigned him to Triple-A St. Paul. He’ll replenish some of the catching depth they stand to lose with this morning’s DFA of Jose Godoy (though it’s possible Godoy will clear waivers and join Sisco with the Saints).
A second-round pick by the Orioles back in 2013, Sisco was long viewed as the heir-apparent to Matt Wieters in Baltimore. From 2016-18, Sisco was generally regarded as one of the sport’s 100 best prospects. His 2016 season, in particular, stood out as he reached Triple-A as a 21-year-old and batted a combined .317/.403/.430 in 497 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A. Sisco made his big league debut late in the 2017 season and went 6-for-18 with a pair of homers and a pair of doubles, and the future indeed seemed quite bright at that point.
However, Sisco struggled through subsequent seasons, and the O’s never really gave him a full season to audition for the everyday job behind the plate. He appeared in parts of five seasons with the Orioles but never reached 200 plate appearances. Strikeouts have been a huge problem for Sisco at the big league level (32.2%), though he’s also walked at a strong 10.2% clip. Overall, the now-27-year-old Sisco has had 608 plate appearances scattered across those five Major League seasons and posted a .197/.317/.337 line. He’s fared quite a bit better in Triple-A, where he has a .256/.345/.421 output in 906 trips to the plate.
The Twins are set to open the season with 24-year-old Ryan Jeffers (a former second-round pick and top-100 prospect himself) and offseason acquisition Gary Sanchez as their two primary options behind the plate. Based on Sisco’s experience, it seems likely that he would be the next man up in the event of an injury. That could change, depending on whether Godoy clears waivers and remains with the organization.
Twinkies just takin’ a chance. Hey you never know.
When you see a Chance, take it. As Steve Winwood would say… I would have signed him just because of his name.
busttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt
Cisco is going to be behind Godoy the minute Godoy passes through waivers. This is just insurance in case Godoy doesn’t make it. Welcome to St Paul guys!
Lots going on for catchers – they need to be field marshals out there, have a thorough understanding and relationships with the entire pitching staff, know the opposing batters backwards and forwards and really manage the game plan. Once that is out of the way they frame pitches, learn the strike zone and umpire tendencies, and play outstanding defense.
I’ve always thought they should be the best at reading pitches and that should translate to a better OBP across the MLB teams, but it doesn’t seem to work that way. Big respect for catchers – undoubtedly the hardest working and toughest position to play well. Good luck Chance!
Kind of surprised more teams aren’t in on this guy. His hitting will never be good but with the state of catching these days, he’s a viable backup, I would think. (Ahhh double checking the article, it’s the K rate, that’s probably what it is.)
Ooh that mask so scandalous,
And you know another team couldn’t handle it