TODAY: Brinson cleared DFA waivers and was assigned to Triple-A after being outrighted off the 40-man roster.
SEPTEMBER 21: The Giants have designated outfielder Lewis Brinson for assignment, Maria Guardado of MLB.com was among those to relay (Twitter link). San Francisco also optioned righty Sean Hjelle to Triple-A Sacramento. The moves clear active roster space for reliever Jharel Cotton, who has reported to the team after being claimed off waivers a few days ago, and infielder Jason Vosler, who has been recalled. Brinson is out of minor league option years, so he had to stick on the MLB roster or be designated for assignment. The Giants 40-man roster tally dips to 39.
San Francisco just added Brinson a few weeks ago. With active rosters expanding by two players in September, the Giants acquired the former first-rounder from the Astros. Brinson had signed a minor league deal with Houston over the offseason and had a very good Triple-A showing, blasting 25 home runs with a .299/.356/.574 line through 364 plate appearances. While the Astros never called him to the major leagues, the Giants immediately selected his contract after trading for him.
Brinson has played in 16 games this month, tallying 39 plate appearances. While he’s picked up three home runs in that limited time, he’s drawn just a pair of walks while going down on strikes 14 times. Subpar strikeout and walk numbers have been common throughout his MLB career, as he’s walked at a 5% clip with a 28.4% strikeout percentage in parts of six big league seasons. Brinson’s aggressive approach and high swing-and-miss rates have contributed to a .198/.246/.328 line through 1150 career plate appearances.
That’s obviously not the production many had envisioned when Brinson was coming up through the minor league ranks. Long one of the sport’s top prospects, the righty-swinging outfielder was a key part of the deals that sent Jonathan Lucroy from Milwaukee to Texas and Christian Yelich from Miami to the Brewers. He spent parts of four seasons with the Marlins but never consistently hit against big league pitching. Through parts of seven years in Triple-A, he owns a far more impressive .308/.373/.545 line.
San Francisco will place Brinson on waivers within the next few days. As a player with over four years of big league service, he’d have the right to refuse an outright assignment in favor of free agency if he goes unclaimed.
Great job Mike Hill! Your best trade since Miguel Cabrera!
I think mr brinson is running outta time what a disappointment so far
At this point it’s pretty clear that Brinson wasn’t cut out for Major League Baseball. Might wanna look into Korea or Japan next year.
When he homered v Dodgers desperate-for-a-bright-spot Dodger fans were enthusiastically hoping Brinson would star on their 2023 roster. Hopes soon faded
damn… thought he was about to break out after that initial dodgers series
Same! Was hoping!
A very overrated prospect.
Not dinger!
Still time for Brinson to make HOF numbers…he just needs pitchers to feed him batting practice pitches for awhile
See you in Japan Brin Diesel. He’s going to be a monster there.
I don’t know, .299/.350 with 25 HRs in 365 ABs is pretty nice, the problem with the Giants is they are always shuffling the lineup and playing the percentages with lefty / righty platoons.
They did the same thing to Yermin, platooned him, the irregular playing time makes it hard to get in a rythm, 39 ABs is a small run, these players like Yermin and Brinson need to be up in April as full time players, and need a season of ABs.
Both should be looking to move onto new teams, and that’s potentially a loss for the Giants who made a couple nice signs but failed to committ to either player. The fact that they optioned both players in a losing season says it all.
I agree. Plus he’s only 28. Reds need to pick him up. Let him play in a friendly ball park – see if he can’t get it together
I was going to say the same thing. I think the Reds could be the one team to help him get some
confidence and get his career on track with the chance to play 81 games a year at GABP. It’s not like they have any OF positions locked down and Brinson could be a surprise that works out well getting regular AB’s there. He’s obviously struggled but sometimes it just takes the right change of scenery to get things going.
If he can hit MLB pitching in a hitter-friendly park, then maybe he can figure other things out. Otherwise, yeah, Japan or Korea seems like reasonable options.
Man haven’t u reds fans learned with Aristides Aquino u foolish to think brinson is gonna hit just because he goes to your ballpark
Yermin belongs nowhere near an MLB field. One of the worst players I’ve seen in a long time, and the Giants have had several piles this year alone.
Yermin has a few really good seasons in the minors, in 2019 he hit .317 with a .388 OBP and 23HR in just over 300 ABs, and in 2021 he hit around .270 with a .340 OBP in 450 ABs between AAA and MLB with around 20HRs,
He switched teams in ’22 and his numbers are off slightly but what the numbers say to me is that Yermin has a good eye, takes a lot of walks, and can hit for power. I’ve watched his ABs, he has a nice short swing, the platoon split hasn’t been that good for Yermin, he needs everyday ABs,
Everybody wants to knock Yermin’s defense, maybe he is best off as an everyday DH, but he has the bat skills to be an everyday DH, and can play the field when needed.
Going to be interesting to see where he lands.
Said nobody yermin is not a good defender and doesn’t make enough contact in majors hmmmm maybes there’s a reason non one wants him
The Giants and Rays have been successful platooning but I feel the both do it too much.
Guys, Brinson has over 1100 ML ABs across six seasons. I think we know what to expect from him at this point. Yeah, anything’s possible, but I’m pretty sure giving him 500 more ABs isn’t going to magically turn him into a superstar.
Maybe 500 more ABs with the Rays.
That’s a massive difference between AAA and MLB. Just shows you how great MLB pitchers. They’ve figured him out.
6 hits, 3 HR’s, 14 K’s in 36 AB’s. Brinson stat line shows exactly what is wrong with the current state of the game
I agree. Hopefully limiting the shift helps but it’ll never go back to the way it was unless mlb chooses to clean up the game. Hitter sizes are unnatural and pitchers still use tons of juice on the ball.
Sunday night softball beer leagues or marajuana leagues for him next summer maybe
If I were the red sox, I lay a claim and DFA JD.
I know that seems like a bad look…so I might ask his consent first, at very least explain the thought process.
The red sox of is terrible, a few weeks seeing if can get through to to a literary ticket. JD as an older player should be willing to sit out the rest of a lost season. No point risking getting hurt.
Sox aren’t DFA’ing JD because then they would lose the option of issuing him a Qualifying Offer this winter, which they almost certainly will do. While granted Brinson cannot possibly be worse than Almonte (and may actually be able to catch the ball) there is no reason to waste yet another roster spot on an Outfielder who can’t hit. Just let Keke (hate that we have to spell his name like this because apparently MLBTR’s servers think this is 1940’s Germany) and Refsnyder share CF for the last couple of weeks
I don’t think they offer is the qo. Not being a tax team. The return isn’t worth the risk he accepts.
He really fell off Fast
Gotta imagine he makes it to the Twins as a Buxton injury fill-in one of these years.
The gap between AAA and MLB. Lewis Brinson has some thoughts.
Another dumpster diving fail. Although he didn’t get much playing time. Needs to go to the A’s and play a full season. See what he can do with 500+ Abs
Totally agree. I’d love to see what a 300 strikeout season looks like.
Another Zaidi dumpster dive DFA. At this rate Zaidi is going to have more DFA’s this season than Giants wins.
He is what they call a 4AAA player. A lot of potential that never developed!
What
I thought Brinson was off to a good start with the Giants. Surprised they’ve let him go.
With minor league seasons over, where do guys go when optioned?
Home
No, he’s not the second coming of Ted Williams, but with the Giants playing in a lost season, they should have let him have more consistent at bats. But, he went through the Farhan meat grinder like so many others. And the buffoon Kapler is so married to lefty/righty platoon that no one gets a chance.
I miss backpage so much
Frederico polanco all that is left from yellch trade. Worst trade of all time?