Giants Acquire Alex Young From Guardians

The Giants have acquired left-handed pitcher Alex Young from the Guardians in exchange for cash considerations, reports Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. The Guardians had designated him for assignment last week. He has been optioned to Triple-A Sacramento. In order to open a spot for Young on the 40-man roster, fellow lefty Aaron Fletcher has been outrighted to Sacramento.

Young, 28, was claimed off waivers from the Diamondbacks in July of last year. He threw 10 1/3 innings for Cleveland last year but has only logged one third of inning here in 2022. In 32 Triple-A frames on the year, he has a 3.66 ERA, which might not be eye-popping, though his rate stats are excellent. He has a 35.6% strikeout rate, well above the 22.3% MLB average. His 5.3% walk rate and 52% are also a few ticks better than league-wide marks. The reason those haven’t translated into a pristine ERA, however, is a whopping 23.8% HR/FB rate, more than double the 11.4% MLB average. The Giants will get him some work in Sacramento and hope to find a way to limit those long balls.

It seems the Giants were intrigued enough by those minor league numbers to consider him a better use of a roster spot than Fletcher. The 26-year-old was just claimed off waivers from the Pirates last week. Though there hadn’t been any public indication of a subsequent roster move, they evidently passed him through waivers in recent days. He made his MLB debut in 2020 and has logged 19 2/3 total innings at the big league level with an unsightly 9.15 ERA. His Triple-A ERA is a much more pleasant 1.45 this year, despite a meager 11% strikeout rate. He’s typically posted high ground ball marks, though, as evidenced by his 55.2% rate in Triple-A this season. He will stay in the Giants organization as depth, but without occupying a spot on the 40-man roster.