Daniel Shawn Susac (born May 14, 2001) is an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

in the

Athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

organization.

Amateur career

Susac attended Jesuit High School in

Carmichael, California Carmichael is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County, California, United States. It is an Unincorporated area, unincorporated suburb in the Sacramento metropolitan area, Greater Sacramento metropolitan ...

, a suburb of

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

, where he played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and

. As a junior in 2019, he hit .378. He played in the

Under Armour All-America Baseball Game The Under Armour High School All-America Baseball Game is a high school baseball all-star game held annually to spotlight the United States' top high school players who are juniors or seniors. The game is played in late July or August, at Wrigley ...

Wrigley Field Wrigley Field is a ballpark on the North Side, Chicago, North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charl ...

that summer. His senior season in 2020 was cut short due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. He originally committed to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...

, but switched his commitment to the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

. Susac immediately became Arizona's starting catcher as a freshman in 2021, playing in 61 games with sixty being starts. He

slashed Ash are a Northern Irish rock band formed in Downpatrick, County Down in 1992 by vocalist and guitarist Tim Wheeler, bassist Mark Hamilton and drummer Rick McMurray. As a three-piece, they released mini-album '' Trailer'' in 1994 and full-lengt ...

.335/.383/.591 with 12 home runs, 64 RBIs, and 24 doubles, earning the title of

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level for all sports, and its Co ...

Freshman of the Year as well as being named All-Conference and to the All-Defensive Team. He was selected to play for the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team that summer. He also played for the

Lincoln Potters The Lincoln Potters are a collegiate wood bat baseball team based in Lincoln, California. They are operating as part of the summer collegiate wood bat league known as the Pacific Empire League. It began operations in 2016 as members of the Gr ...

of the

California Collegiate League The California Collegiate League (CCL), founded in 1993, is a collegiate summer baseball league headquartered in Moorpark, California, United States. It is associated with both the National Baseball Congress and National Alliance of College Su ...

. Susac returned as Arizona's starting catcher in 2022 and entered the season as a top prospect for the upcoming draft. On March 14, 2022, he was named the National Player of the Week by ''

Collegiate Baseball Newspaper ''Collegiate Baseball Newspaper'' (also known as ''Collegiate Baseball Magazine'' and ''Collegiate Baseball'') was an American publication based in Arizona that considered itself the "voice of amateur baseball" and was published for over 40 yea ...

'' as well as Pac-12 Player of the Week after he batted .526 with three home runs and 11 RBIs over four games. He finished the season having appeared in 64 games, compiling a .366/.430/.582 slash line with 12 home runs, 61 RBIs, and 100 hits. Following the season's end, he traveled to

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

where he participated in the Draft Combine.

Professional career

Susac was selected by the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) American League We ...

in the first round with the 19th overall selection of the

2022 Major League Baseball draft The 2022 Major League Baseball draft took place on July 17–19, 2022, in Los Angeles. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. The draft order was based on the reverse order of the 2021 MLB season standin ...

. He signed with the team for $3.5 million. Susac made his professional debut with the

Arizona Complex League Athletics The Arizona Complex League Athletics are a Minor League Baseball team based in Mesa, Arizona, which plays as a Rookie-level team in the Arizona Complex League and has served as a farm team for the Athletics organization since 1988. They play thei ...

and was promoted to the

Stockton Ports The Stockton Ports are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the Athletics. They are located in Stockton, California, and are named for the city's seaport. The team plays its home games at Banner I ...

after two games. Over 27 games between both teams, he batted .298 with one home run and 15 RBIs. Susac opened the 2023 season with the

Lansing Lugnuts The Lansing Lugnuts are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Athletics (baseball), Athletics. They are located in Lansing, Michigan, and play their home games at Jackson Field (Lansing), Jackson Fie ...

. He was promoted to the

Midland RockHounds The Midland RockHounds are a Minor League Baseball team based in Midland, Texas. The team, which plays in the Texas League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Athletics major league club. The RockHounds play in Momentum Bank Ballpark, which ope ...

in late August. Over 112 games between the two teams, he slashed .300/.365/.428 with eight home runs and 62 RBIs. Susac returned to Midland for the 2024 season, batting .257 with 12 home runs and fifty RBIs over 88 games. After the season, he played in the

Arizona Fall League The Arizona Fall League (AFL) is an off-season baseball league owned and operated by Major League Baseball (MLB) which operates during autumn in Arizona, United States, at six different baseball complexes. Arizona Fall League rosters are filled ...

. As of May 17, 2025, Susac is currently slashing .283/.368/.475 with 4 home runs and 15 RBIs in Triple-A.

Personal life

Susac's older brother,

Andrew Andrew is the English form of the given name, common in many countries. The word is derived from the , ''Andreas'', itself related to ''aner/andros'', "man" (as opposed to "woman"), thus meaning "manly" and, as consequence, "brave", "strong", "c ...

, has played six seasons of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

. His cousin, Anthony, also plays on the Arizona baseball team.

References

External links

Arizona Wildcats bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Susac, Daniel 2001 births Living people Baseball players from Roseville, California Baseball catchers Arizona Wildcats baseball players United States national baseball team players Arizona Complex League Athletics players Stockton Ports players Lansing Lugnuts players Jesuit High School (Carmichael) alumni 21st-century American sportsmen