From Melbourne to the Majors: Former EFSC Catcher Shines With San Francisco Giants
Drew Cavanaugh struggled during his first season at Eastern Florida State College, returned as an award-winning catcher and kept climbing until his Major League debut with San Francisco.
Drew Cavanaugh did not arrive at Eastern Florida State College looking like an inevitable Major League catcher. His first season was difficult. He played 23 games in 2021 and struggled at the plate.
Five years later, on June 26, 2026, he started behind the plate for the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park and lined a single into right field for his first Major League hit.
That distance—from a frustrating freshman season in Melbourne to the Giants' starting lineup—is what makes Cavanaugh's story especially worth telling on the Space Coast.
The season that could have sent him backward
Cavanaugh came to EFSC with professional-baseball ambitions, but his freshman results did not match them. Rather than treating the season as a verdict, he used it as an offseason assignment.
He returned in 2022 and became one of the Titans' leaders. In 37 games, Cavanaugh hit .314 with eight home runs. Behind the plate, he recorded 257 putouts without a fielding error and threw out 22 runners attempting to steal.
That defensive season earned him the NJCAA Division I ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove and co-Defensive Player of the Year recognition.
Drew Cavanaugh during his Eastern Florida State College career. Photo courtesy of EFSC via Space Coast Daily.
Melbourne became part of the climb
Cavanaugh has credited EFSC coaches Jason Arnold and Steven Brown, the competition and the program's culture with preparing him for the next level. His time in Melbourne was not simply a stop between high school and a larger school. It was where he learned how to respond when his first plan did not work immediately.
His sophomore performance earned him a scholarship to Florida Southern College, where he hit .316 with a team-leading 12 home runs in his lone season. The Giants selected him in the 17th round of the 2023 MLB Draft.
From there, he worked through San Francisco's minor-league system. Before his call-up, Cavanaugh was hitting .311 with a .999 OPS and nine home runs across Double-A Richmond and Triple-A Sacramento in 2026.
The phone call every minor leaguer waits for
Cavanaugh was preparing to catch a Triple-A game when manager Dave Brundage told him he was going to the Major Leagues—and would likely catch there, too.
The Giants selected his contract on June 26 after catcher Daniel Susac went on the injured list. Cavanaugh started that night against Atlanta, batted eighth and collected his first hit in the fifth inning. His parents and brothers had flown to San Francisco and were in the stands.
Through his first 19 Major League games, Cavanaugh was batting .262. Those numbers will move as the season continues, but reaching the roster at all already places him among a very small group of players who turn a college ambition into a Major League uniform.
Fans can follow his current statistics and game updates on Cavanaugh's official MLB player page.
Persistence is the local part of the story
Cavanaugh was born in Michigan and finished college in Lakeland, but Melbourne owns an important chapter of his path. EFSC gave him serious competition, coaching and room to return after a disappointing year.
For current Titans—and for any student whose first season, semester or attempt does not go as planned—that may be the most useful part of the story. The breakout did not erase the struggle. It grew from what he did next.
Sources and useful links
Claire Szewczyk
Claire has called Florida home for a decade, but her love of the Space Coast goes back further — to the beat-up Kennedy Space Center coffee table book she found in a thrift store when she was five. She writes about the people, places, and history that make Brevard County great, and those stories are where Brightside Brevard began.
