Drew Cavanaugh is a 24-year-old catcher and a child of the digital information era who uses a very analog way to organize his thoughts.Over the past three minor-league seasons, not long after the San Francisco Giants drafted him in the 17th round in 2023, he’s kept a notebook to jot down reminders and inspirational refrains.Following a disappointing 2024 season, his first full year as a professional baseball player, he starts each entry with the same phrase.Don’t forget what it’s like to not play.“I live by that quote,” Cavanaugh said.Cavanaugh’s first full year contained plenty of emptiness. How do you shed an “organizational player” label when you seldom see the field? How do you convince minor-league coaches and coordinators that you’re worthy of an opportunity when it’s a struggle to crack the lineup at Low-A San Jose?Cavanaugh spent most of that 2024 season with San Jose. He played in just 38 games. He played nine games for Triple-A Sacramento, too, but it hardly counts as a promotion when the prerequisite is a pulse. Those were the times when the River Cats needed a catcher because of injury or promotion, and Cavanaugh was not terribly far away and could be trusted to strap on his shinguards.“I go up and play four or five games in a row and think, ‘Wow, this is great,’ ” Cavanaugh said. “Then I’d go back down (to San Jose), and it’d be once a week, twice a week. So going into that offseason, I just wanted to attack it because I was so mad that I wasn’t playing every day. That was my driving force. It’s been my driving force ever since.”That driving force carried him to the crest of the mountain pass Friday night. Cavanaugh made his major-league debut, batted eighth, capably caught nine innings, drew a walk that started a rally and even poked his first big league hit in the Giants’ 3-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves on the shores of McCovey Cove.“It felt great,” Cavanaugh said of his single that scooted past Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies in the fifth inning. “I hit it, and then I saw it was gonna go through, and everything after that was pretty much a blur. But what a moment. All those years practicing and playing for that … it was just a surreal moment.”The Giants reached the mathematical halfway point of the season with a 33-48 record, but don’t tell someone like Cavanaugh that the next 81 games won’t mean a darn thing. Standings aside, every opportunity to play is precious. If you need a reminder, there’s a notebook in Cavanaugh’s locker. Flip to any page.The club promoted Cavanaugh from Sacramento on Friday because catcher Daniel Susac experienced back discomfort and made an early exit from Thursday afternoon’s game against the Athletics. The Giants could have summoned Jesús Rodríguez, who was already on the 40-man roster and spent time in the big leagues earlier this season.But Rodríguez is a work in progress with the glove, and it’s apparent that backup catcher Eric Haase has limitations as well. Cavanaugh is their best defender, and while he’s not viewed as a difference-making offensive force, the rare lefty-hitting catcher owns a .406 on-base percentage in four minor-league seasons. So the at-bat quality has a chance to be good.The early read on Susac’s injury is that he’s only expected to miss the minimum 10-day period on the injured list. Cavanaugh might not be with the Giants for long.Even so, it’s a stunning turn for a team that began the season with the two-time defending Gold Glove winner, Patrick Bailey, behind the plate. After trading Bailey, at least for now, their primary catcher is a guy who was backing up in Low-A at the start of last season.Cavanaugh didn’t have to wait quite so long between starts last year — he played in 91 games and amassed 402 plate appearances — but he was as itinerant as a player can be whose job is to squat at home. Cavanaugh played for four of the Giants’ full-season affiliates. He pulled off the rare feat of swatting a home run at each level, too. He finished with 14 home runs and an .849 OPS while playing credible defense.Yet it wasn’t enough to earn an invitation to major-league camp this past spring, which can be difficult to accept when you’re a catcher and a team typically has 20-plus pitchers throwing bullpen sessions on a given day. Instead, the Giants brought in minor-league free agents like Haase and Diego Cartaya to catch.