The Giants announced that they’ve selected infielder Christian Koss onto the 40-man roster. He’ll break camp and will make his major league debut once he gets into a game. San Francisco optioned Grant McCray and Brett Wisely while reassigning non-roster invitees Joel Peguero and Max Stassi to Triple-A Sacramento. The Giants also placed Jerar Encarnacion on the 10-day injured list with a fracture in his left hand that’ll require surgery. They placed catcher Tom Murphy on the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man roster spot for Koss.
Koss, 27, is entering his second season in the San Francisco organization. The Giants acquired him from the Red Sox in a minor league deal on the eve of the ’24 campaign. It was the second trade of his career. Koss was initially a 12th-round pick by Colorado and went to the Red Sox in a minor trade in 2020. He reached Triple-A in the Boston system before being traded.
The UC-Irvine product divided his first season with San Francisco between the top two minor league levels. He raked at a .386/.453/.627 clip over 25 Double-A games but posted a more modest .257/.332/.415 line across 197 Triple-A plate appearances. Koss played quite well in Spring Training, hitting .341 with five walks and seven strikeouts through 47 trips to the plate. He can bounce around the infield and provides a speed element off the bench. Koss and Casey Schmitt will work as utility players behind Tyler Fitzgerald, Willy Adames and Matt Chapman.
Murphy, who has dealt with plenty of injuries throughout his career, is currently shelved with a herniated disc in his back. He has received multiple epidural injections. He’ll miss at least the first two months of the season. Sam Huff will begin the season as the backup catcher behind Patrick Bailey.
Cool story honestly. Minor league rando who made the team out of nowhere with a very good Spring. I doubt he’ll hit, but the guy can play shortstop.
Dunno, since he hit the Giants system he’s hit quite well (just as he did in college). And he’s a base stealer.
Giants have a lot of speed — not something you could say even 2 years ago.
Time will tell if it translates to SBs
I hear the walk up music.
I have this guy’s picture on a cup from his college summer team when they did a promotion.
Like a paper cup or a coffee cup? Or a trophy cup? Or a Cooper Kupp?
Plastic cup. Like the souvenir cups you can get at stadiums.
Name fits
Lol that’s a good one !
This is Cool, They need a few of these fridge guys that bring swagger. Looks like a surfer dude. Probably a character. Culture is Huge with Posey among other things the previous regime could care less about. Good for Him. Hopefully have a good April off the bench, then go from there.
Nope. Lies.
Every player spoke very highly of the culture under Zaidi.
If he sticks he’s quickly going to be a fan favorite. An easy guy to root for.
100%. Very easy. Balls out.
Love it.
I recall you commenting on this guy earlier in the spring. He’s definitely a gamer on both sides of the ball. Good call Fopp !
I read his defence was turning heads and he never stopped hitting. Had to be a chance. No talent evaluation skills required !
Still cool to see the dark horse early on. I like his gap power, speed & D.
So this rando made the cut but Wisely and Villar did not ?
Rando makes cut over fellow randos.
Wisely’s career 0.3 WAR is firmly in the rando category.
Villar lmao, dude can’t hit
Koss’s AAA OPS was 747 – a sign that he’s ready for takeoff.
Unexpected but his glove is legit.
Congrats!
Surprised. I figured Wisely had the job.
Koss sure looked good in ST though.
I wonder if Buster had any day
Not going to lie, I had to look up who Koss is.
He is gonna be a favorite. Hustles hard swing big. Hope he can make it work in less than 20 at bats. Saw him mash a double last night.
He sure is a scrappy player. Watched him a number of ST games and ended up looking up who he was. Uniform always dirty. Damn good on defense. One of those guys who can irritate other teams when he’s on base. Looks like him and Schmitt will battle it out until Jerar is healthy.
It’s a move to test low-cost talent, exploit IL rules, and set up a July trade surge (Bailey, Strzelecki from earlier moves) that retools the Giants for 2026-2027, all under the radar of “utility infielder makes team.
youtu.be/010KyIQjkTk?feature=shared
Great walkup music to bring back the ‘90s