Giants Promote Joe Nathan

The Giants have selected the contract of righty Joe Nathan, as the Mercury News’ Andrew Baggarly and others have tweeted. To clear roster space for Nathan, they’ve recalled righty Ray Black and placed him on the 60-day DL.

The Giants signed the 41-year-old Nathan to a minor league deal last month. He has pitched sparingly since 2014, making his way through three organizations while battling his way back from Tommy John surgery. He did pitch three outings with the Cubs earlier this season, and the results were modestly promising — he struck out four batters and walked two in two innings.

Nathan’s first appearance with the Giants will represent a homecoming — he played his first four big-league seasons with San Francisco, making his big-league debut all the way back in 1999. It was the Twins, though, who enjoyed much of Nathan’s big-league success, as the Giants traded him with Francisco Liriano and Boof Bonser in late 2003 in a famously lopsided deal for A.J. Pierzynski. In Minnesota, Nathan became one of the game’s top closers, racking up 260 saves between 2004 and 2011 before heading to the Rangers and then the Tigers. For his career, Nathan has a 2.88 ERA, 9.5 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 919 innings.