The Giants will designate righty Jake Smith for assignment, Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area reports on Twitter. The team needed to clear a 40-man spot to make way for infielder Grant Green, who has been promoted.
[Related: Updated Giants Depth Chart]
Smith, 28, has made a u-turn after his stellar 2015 campaign. Over 84 1/3 frames last year at High-A, he allowed just 2.35 earned runs per nine with 12.6 K/9 against only 2.2 BB/9. While the strikeouts are still there through his first 20 1/3 innings at the Double-A level, Smith has walked nearly as many batters as he has K’ed and currently sports a 7.08 ERA.
The 28-year-old Green will now suit up with his third major league club from California after previously seeing action with the Athletics and Angels. He has not managed to hit enough at the MLB level over his first 300 trips to the plate to make up for a suspect glove, and joined San Francisco as a minor league free agent. Green owns a .294/.321/.437 batting line over 250 plate appearances this year with the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate.
When you are 28 in high a
Curious to know from some Giants fan what the issues are with him. He did really well at previous offensive oriented leagues.. Yet struggled at AA in a league that is neutral.
Is Smith a hard thrower? Don’t recall seeing him, tho may have while watching portland on Milb.. Don’t recall.. He’s old for league, tho must have been something for SF to protect him from the Rule 5 draft?
I’m interested if someone has more info.
The article has his 2015 numbers right there int he second paragraph, that’s all you really need to know for why they would want to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.
It’s like they bring up a different AAAA infielder every day. Starting to get out of hand. Guess that’s what happens when half your starting infield and both of your backups are all hurt at the same time.
First off, he’s 26, not 28, so the Hi-A year he was 25. Second, his walk ratio is 10.3/9 this year and his Whip is nearly 2. Have to wonder about an injury or something. The walks are way out of line from his previous seasons.