Giants Sign Scott Alexander To Minor League Deal

The Giants have signed left-handed reliever Scott Alexander to a minor league deal, reports Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America.

Alexander, 32, was a sixth round pick of the Royals in 2010. He made it up to the big leagues and pitched out of the Royals’ bullpen over the 2015-2017 seasons. In that time, he threw 94 innings with a 2.78 ERA. His 19.9% strikeout rate and 9.7% walk rate were both worse than league average, but his success came from an incredible 72.9% ground ball rate.

Prior to the 2018 campaign, he was acquired by the Dodgers in a three-team swap that also involved the White Sox. He performed adequately in his first season as a Dodger, similar to his time in Kansas City. He threw 66 innings that year with a 3.68 ERA, 20.9% strikeout rate, 10.1% walk rate and 70.9% ground ball rate. Unfortunately, injuries severely limited him over the subsequent three seasons. From 2019 to 2021, he was only able to log 45 total innings with a 3.20 ERA. Perhaps due to the injuries, his rate stats suffered a bit, with his strikeout rate and ground ball rates falling to 13.3% and 63.7% in that time, respectively. He last pitched in a game July 19, after which shoulder inflammation sent him to the injured list. The club could have brought him back for 2022 via arbitration but outrighted him instead.

Alexander now joins a Giants organization that could use some left-handed help in the bullpen. Jake McGee went on the injured list yesterday, leaving just Jarlin Garcia and Jose Alvarez as southpaw relief options on the big league club. Alexander will join Sam Long as left-handed depth options in Triple-A. Alexander currently has five years and 39 days of service time, meaning he needs 133 more days on a big league roster to reach the six-year plateau. There’s about 145 days left in this season, making it very unlikely Alexander will cross that threshold before season’s end, assuming he will need some time to ramp back up into game shape after such a long absence. If he does earn a roster spot and holds onto it through season’s end, the Giants would have the ability to retain him for 2023 via arbitration.