Max Robert Stassi (born March 15, 1991) 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

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

organization. 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 ...

drafted him in the fourth round of the

2009 MLB draft The 2009 Major League Baseball draft was held June 9 to June 11 at the MLB Network Studios in Secaucus, New Jersey. The drafting order is as follows: First-round selections Key Supplemental first-round selections From Baseball Americ ...

. In 2013, Stassi made his MLB debut with the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

. The Astros traded Stassi to the

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, ...

in 2019.

Early life

Stassi attended Yuba City High School in

Yuba City, California Yuba City ( Maidu: ''Yubu'') is a city in Northern California and the county seat of Sutter County, California Sutter County is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, ...

. He played for his school's baseball team, and was twice named ''

The Sacramento Bee ''The Sacramento Bee'' is a daily newspaper published in Sacramento, California, in the United States. Since its foundation in 1857, ''The Bee'' has become the largest newspaper in Sacramento, the fifth largest newspaper in California, and the 2 ...

''s player of the year. Stassi also competed for the

United States national baseball team The United States national baseball team, also known as Team USA, represents the United States in international level baseball competitions. The team is currently ranked 5th in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confederation. The United S ...

, winning gold in the 2006

Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

Barquisimeto Barquisimeto (; ) is a city in Venezuela. Barquisimeto is located in the Central-Western Region, Venezuela. It is the capital of the state of Lara (state), Lara and head of Iribarren Municipality. It is an important urban, industrial, commercial a ...

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

, and the

International Baseball Federation The International Baseball Federation (IBAF) is the former international governing body of baseball. It has since been superseded by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), and continues to exist as the WBSC's baseball division. Betwee ...

's 16 and Under Baseball World Championship in 2007. He finished his high school career with a .514

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

, 40

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s, and 162

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

(RBIs). Stassi committed to attend the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

(UCLA), 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, ...

for the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Big Ten Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF ...

Career

Oakland Athletics

Minor leagues

Heading into the 2009 Major League Baseball (MLB) Draft, ''

Sporting News ''The Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a ...

'' called Stassi the best available high school

. Stassi made it clear that he expected a large

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

to agree to a professional contract. A potential first round pick, Stassi was not selected in the first three rounds, which ''

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' (BA) is a sports publication company that covers baseball at every level, including Major League Baseball (MLB), with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in Minor League Baseball (MiLB) college, high school, and inte ...

'' called "one of the biggest surprises" of the draft. The

selected Stassi in the fourth round, with the 123rd overall selection, of the draft. He received a $1.5 million bonus, a record for a fourth round pick, forgoing his commitment to UCLA. Stassi also negotiated in his contract that the Athletics would invite him to

spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

with the major league team in 2010. Stassi spent his first pro season with the

Vancouver Canadians The Vancouver Canadians are a Minor League Baseball (MiLB) team located in Vancouver, British Columbia. They are members of the Northwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. The Canadians play their home games at Nat Bail ...

of the Low–A

Northwest League The Northwest League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Northwestern United States and Western Canada. A Class A Short Season league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseba ...

and the rookie–level

Arizona 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 batted .280/.346/.360 with no home runs and eight RBI. In 2010, he was assigned to the

Kane County Cougars The Kane County Cougars are a professional baseball team located in Geneva, Illinois, and are members of the American Association of Professional Baseball, an official Partner League of Major League Baseball (MLB). They play their home games a ...

of the Single–A

Midwest League The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...

, where he batted .229/.310/.380 with 13 home runs and 51 RBI over 110 appearances. In 2011, Stassi played for 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 ...

of the High–A

California League The California League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in California. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following Major Leagu ...

, batting .231/.331/.331 with two home runs and 19 RBI, but missed the end of the season with shoulder surgery. The Athletics invited him to

in 2012. He batted .268 with 15 home runs and 45 RBI in 84 games with Stockton during the 2012 season.

Houston Astros

On February 4, 2013, the Athletics traded Stassi to the

with Brad Peacock and Chris Carter for Jed Lowrie and Fernando Rodriguez. Playing for the

Corpus Christi Hooks The Corpus Christi Hooks are a Minor League Baseball team of the Texas League and the Double-A affiliate of the Houston Astros. They are located in Corpus Christi, Texas, and are named for the city's association with fishing. The team is owned b ...

of the Double–A

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

in 2013, Stassi hit

s in five consecutive games in July. He was named the Texas League's player of the week twice in July, and was named the Texas League's player of month for July.

Major leagues

The Astros promoted Stassi to the majors on August 20, 2013, to serve as a backup to Jason Castro when the Astros placed Carlos Corporán on the

disabled list In Major League Baseball (MLB), the injured list (IL) is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players. Before the 2019 Major League Baseball season, 2019 season, it was known as the disabl ...

. Making his MLB debut that day, he recorded two

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...

. In his second MLB game, Stassi was hit in the face by a

fastball The fastball is the most common type of pitch (baseball), pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. Its distinctive feature is its high speed. "Power pitchers," such as former major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, relied on the ...

, which resulted in his being placed on the disabled list. Since the bases were loaded at the time he was plunked, he earned his first major-league RBI. Stassi began the 2014 season with the

Oklahoma City RedHawks Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

of the Triple–A

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

(PCL). He finished the season with the Houston Astros, batting .350 (7-for-20) and driving in four runs in seven games played. Stassi played for the

Fresno Grizzlies The Fresno Grizzlies are a Minor League Baseball team of the California League and the Single-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. They are located in Fresno, California, and play their home games at Chukchansi Park, which was opened in 2002 in ...

of the PCL in 2015, batting .211/.279/.384, before being promoted to the major leagues in August due to an injury to Castro. He played in 11 games for the Astros. Following the offseason trade of

Hank Conger Hyun Choi "Hank" Conger (born January 29, 1988) is an American former professional baseball catcher and current coach who serves as the assistant bench coach and catching coach for the Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball (MLB). Conger wa ...

, Stassi entered spring training in 2016 expected to become the backup to Castro. In March, he had surgery on a fractured

hamate bone The hamate bone (from Latin hamatus, "hooked"), or unciform bone (from Latin '' uncus'', "hook"), Latin os hamatum and occasionally abbreviated as just hamatum, is a bone in the human wrist readily distinguishable by its wedge shape and a hook- ...

in his left wrist. The Astros activated Stassi from the disabled list in May and optioned him to Fresno, where he batted 230/.294/.374. The Astros removed Stassi from their 40-man roster in March 2017. He played for Fresno before the Astros promoted him to the major leagues when Brian McCann was injured on August 14. Stassi went on the disabled list on August 25 with left hand inflammation caused by a blister. In 14 games in 2017, Stassi finished with 2 home runs and 4 RBIs and batted .167/.323/.458. Stassi was not on the team's postseason roster as the team went on to win the

2017 World Series The 2017 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2017 season. The 113th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the National League (NL) champion Los Angeles Dodgers and th ...

. Stassi was named to the Astros'

Opening Day Opening Day is the day on which professional baseball leagues begin their regular season. For Major League Baseball (MLB) and most of the American minor leagues, this day typically falls during the first week of April, although in recent year ...

roster in 2018 as a backup to McCann. In 221 at bats in 2018 he batted .226/.316/.394. On June 26, Stassi came into the game as pitcher in the 9th inning in a blow out loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 2019, Stassi had a limited role with the Astros as a backup catcher to Robinson Chirinos and only appeared in 31 games where he had just 15 hits in 90 at-bats with one homerun and three RBIs.

Los Angeles Angels

On July 31, 2019, the Astros traded Stassi to the

in exchange for minor leaguers Rainier Rivas and Raider Uceta. In 2020, on defense he led major league catchers in stolen bases allowed, with 32. On the offensive side, he hit .278 with 7 home runs and 20 RBIs. On June 14, 2021, Stassi earned the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...

Player of the Week Award after hitting .455 (10-for-22) with three home runs, three doubles, eight RBIs and a 1.478 OPS in five games for the previous week. In 87 games, Stassi batted .241/.326/.426 and set career–highs in home runs (13) and RBIs (35). Stassi and the Angels agreed to a three-year contract extension worth $17.5 million on March 24, 2022. Stassi played in a career–high 102 games for the Angels in 2022, hitting .180/.267/.303 with 9 home runs and 30 RBIs. On defensive side, Stassi led

Fielding in Double Plays Turned as C (Double Plays as Defender). In 2023, Stassi suffered a hip strain during a

game, and was placed on the injured list to begin the season. He was transferred to the 60–day injured list on June 10, 2023. Stassi announced in September that he would not return to the Angels that season due to a medical issue with his family, and the Angels placed him on the restricted list, forfeiting the remainder of Stassi's $7 million salary for the 2023 season.

Chicago White Sox

On December 8, 2023, the Angels traded Stassi and David Fletcher to the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

in exchange for Evan White and Tyler Thomas. The following day, the Braves traded him to the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

for a player to be named later. Stassi began the 2024 season on the injured list with hip inflammation. While rehabbing, he was hit on the hand by a backswing, and he was later transferred to the 60–day injured list on April 15, 2024. On June 10, it was announced that Stassi had undergone a season–ending left hip surfacing procedure. On November 1, the White Sox declined his 2025 option making him a free agent.

San Francisco Giants

On November 24, 2024, Stassi signed a minor league contract with the

Personal life

Stassi's father, grandfather, and great-grandfather played as catchers in minor league baseball. His father, Jim, coached him at Yuba City. Max's grand-uncle, Myril Hoag, played in three

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...

, batting .320 in them. His brother, Brock Stassi, has also played in MLB. Max and Brock Stassi have raised more than $100,000 with an annual charity event held in Yuba City, called "Homers for the Hungry." The money goes to local food banks.''

Appeal-Democrat The ''Appeal-Democrat'' is a broadsheet newspaper published five days a week in Marysville, California, United States and covering Yuba County, Yuba and Sutter County, Sutter counties. The paper also is sold in Colusa County to the west and Butt ...

'', November 30, 2014

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stassi, Max 1991 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada Arizona League Athletics players Baseball players from Yolo County, California Charlotte Knights players Corpus Christi Hooks players Fresno Grizzlies players Houston Astros players Indios de Mayagüez players Inland Empire 66ers players Kane County Cougars players Los Angeles Angels players Major League Baseball catchers Oklahoma City RedHawks players Sportspeople from Woodland, California Sportspeople from Yuba City, California Phoenix Desert Dogs players Round Rock Express players Sacramento River Cats players Salt Lake Bees players Stockton Ports players Toros del Este players Vancouver Canadians players