Early on Wednesday, the Minnesota Twins dropped Carson McCusker from the team’s 40-man roster to make room for a selection in the 2026 MLB Rule 5 Draft.
The Twins had the fourth overall pick in this year’s draft and they selected Triple-A catcher Daniel Susac. The 24-year-old right-handed hitter is inching closer to becoming MLB ready, so we can see Susac get his shot sooner than we might think. But, it won’t be with the Twins. Minutes after selecting Susac, the Twins traded him to the San Francisco Giants. Interestingly with this move, Susac will have to stay on the active roster all season with San Francisco.
Minnesota Twins select catcher Daniel Susac fourth overall in the 2026 Rule 5 Draft, then trade him
#MNTwins select C Daniel Susac from Sacramento in the Rule 5 draft.
— DanHayesMLB (@DanHayesMLB) December 10, 2025
Minnesota has four catchers currently in their Top 30 prospects ranking, but Susac is the most developed of them all. Eduardo Tait, ranked No. 3, is their biggest prospect among this catching crop, but he is only 19 years old and will need more time before he gets promoted to the majors. Maybe Minnesota thinks one of their other guys will get to the bigs in time, so shipping Susac may have been a premeditated plan.
Sources: The Twins will trade Rule 5 draft pick Daniel Susac to the Giants.
— Eric Longenhagen (@longenhagen) December 10, 2025
Susac is a 2022 first-round draft pick out of Arizona. This past season with Triple-A Las Vegas, Susac mashed 18 home runs, 19 doubles, and one triple across 97 games. His slash line was .275/.349/.483/.832. He was the A’s No. 11 overall prospect, and their top minor league catcher.
On top of immediately trading away Susac, Minnesota lost Aaron Rozek in the Rule 5 Draft. Rozek, a 30-year-old left-handed pitcher, registered a combined 4-1 record with with Double-A Wichita and Triple-A St. Paul this season. He logged a 4.46 ERA in 109 innings, striking out 102 batters.
