Giants Release Gary Sanchez, Two-Time All-Star Catcher

The San Francisco Giants announced Tuesday that they have released catcher Gary Sánchez.

The San Francisco Giants announced Tuesday that they have released catcher Gary Sánchez after the former All-Star requested to exercise the May 1 opt-out of his minor league deal with the club.

Sánchez, who signed a minor-league deal with the Giants on March 31, failed to earn a call up to the team’s major league roster after batting a dismal .164 with no home runs, eight RBIs and 19 strikeouts in 16 games at Triple A Sacramento.

The contract allowed the former Yankees All-Star to opt out of the deal if he wasn’t promoted to the major league roster by May 1. The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly tweeted that Sanchez has exercised his opt-out. “The Giants are not adding catcher Gary Sanchez today and he is exercising his opt-out, source tells Ken Rosenthal and me.”

Sánchez spent the 2022 season with the Twins after being acquired in a trade from the Yankees with Gio Urshela in exchange for Josh Donaldson, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Ben Rortvedt.

The Twins were hoping a change of scenery would help Sánchez return to his rookie form of 2016, when he hit 20 homers with 42 RBIs in just 53 games.

In 2022 with Minnesota, Sánchez recorded 16 home runs and 61 RBIs. However, he struggled to find consistency at the plate, hitting just .205. The 30-year-old has failed to hit higher than .232 in each of his last five seasons in the majors.