The San Francisco Giants have made some huge offseason moves already and hope they aren’t done just yet, but as is the case for every team that doesn’t win the World Series, the most important development will have to come from within.

One player who took a huge step from 2023 to 2024 and will try to improve even further in 2025 is Giants catcher Patrick Bailey. After a beyond solid rookie season in 2023 in which he finished in the top-ten for the National League Rookie of the Year, Bailey won a Gold Glove in 2024.

While the offensive output was similar to his rookie season and not anything to write home about, there’s confidence the bat will come along for the 25-year-old.

In an article naming breakout stars in 2024 who are due for a huge season in 2025, Bailey was one of the first names mentioned by Will Leitch of MLB.com.

“Bailey led all players in Statcast’s fielding run value metric (plus-22), and FanGraphs, which factors pitch framing into its WAR calculation, had Bailey third among catchers with 4.3 WAR,” Leitch wrote. “At age 25, Bailey already has won as many Gold Gloves as Posey — now his team’s president of baseball operations — did over his whole career.”

Leitch pointed out that Bailey has established himself to be San Francisco’s catcher of the future, something that seems undeniable at this point. If the former first-round pick can develop his bat to the point where he is hitting at least close to the same rate as he was raking in the minor leagues, he will have a chance to become one of the best catchers in baseball.

Through 218 games over his first two seasons in MLB, Bailey has posted a batting average of .234, an OPS of .640, slugged .348, and has hit 15 home runs and 94 RBIs. Certainly not numbers that will blow you away at the plate, but his defense has more than made up for it and allowed the Giants to be patient with his bat.

In 193 minor league games since being drafted No. 13 overall in 2020, Bailey hit .251 across all levels and had an OPS of .779. He also showed an encouraging level of power with 25 home runs, but has struggled to replicate that in the big leagues thus far.

Having already established himself to be one of the best in the game on defense, Bailey will have a chance in 2025 to enter the upper echelon of catchers across the game if he can have the breakout season he appears poised to.

SAN FRANCISCO – It’s a magical and beloved holiday tradition that’s uniquely San Francisco – The San Francisco Ballet’s Nutcracker.

This year, the production is marking big milestones at the War Memorial Opera House.

The San Francisco Ballet performed the first Nutcracker in the United States in 1944. This year, the company is celebrating its 80th anniversary.

“My family has this term called ‘nerv-cited,’ it’s a mix between nervous and excited… so I’m feeling nerve cited,” said 12-year-old Stella Sieck.

Sieck performs as a butterfly in the Nutcracker this season. Dancers have been rehearsing for the production since October.

This holiday season, the company is marking its 20th year of Helgi Tomasson’s Nutcracker. The former artistic director set this production in San Francisco, inspired by the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, a world’s fair held in 1915.

Tomasson led the San Francisco Ballet for 37 years. The Nutcracker is his tribute to San Francisco.

“It means so much to the city, and the audience, how they bring their children and their grandchildren, and it has become a real tradition, and they have taken ownership of this Nutcracker, and I’m very proud of that,” Tomasson said.

Grace Maduell Holmes first danced in SF Ballet’s Nutcracker in 1979, performing in upwards of 350 holiday shows. Today, she serves as the San Francisco Ballet School Director.

“I hope that they’re not just enjoying their time on the stage as performers but also having a look at the teamwork that it takes to put on a production of this professional level,” she said. “I think it’s so important for these students to see that it’s not just about class, it’s not just about performance, but it takes a huge group of people to put something on like this.”

KTVU was there as Stella prepared to go on stage. She normally trains six to seven days a week throughout the year, and hopes to join the company one day.

“It’s just an honor and I’m so grateful to be in a production like this one, and there’s so many amazing dancers,” said Sieck. I’m standing here, an incredible dancer stood here before me.”

“We make people happy. I love making people happy because I know when I dance, I’m bringing joy to other people,” she added.

This season, the San Francisco Ballet will hold more Nutcracker shows than ever. The final day of performances is December 29.