Giants Sign JT Brubaker To Minor League Deal

The Giants have signed JT Brubaker to a minor league contract, according to his transaction log on MLB.com. He will report to the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats. The Yankees released the right-hander last week.

Brubaker, now 31, made 61 starts for the Pirates from 2020-22, more than any other pitcher on the team. Interestingly, his numbers in that span were quite similar to those of another Pirates righty, Mitch Keller. Brubaker gave Pittsburgh 315 2/3 innings with a 4.99 ERA, a 4.04 SIERA, and 3.0 FanGraphs WAR, while Keller tossed 281 1/3 frames with a 4.64 ERA, 4.67 SIERA, and 3.0 fWAR of his own. Brubaker beat out Keller for the Opening Day start in 2022, although Keller slightly outearned him (by less than $200,000) the following winter in their first year of arbitration eligibility.

Unfortunately for Brubaker, their paths notably diverged after that. While Keller made the All-Star team in 2023 and turned that strong performance into a five-year, $77 million extension in the offseason, Brubaker lost his 2023 campaign to Tommy John surgery. The Pirates traded him to the Yankees the following winter, and an oblique strain he suffered whilst rehabbing from his Tommy John kept him from coming off the IL in 2024. Then, he fractured three ribs this past spring, forcing him back to the injured list, where he stayed until June.

Finally, on June 21, Brubaker returned to the major leagues for the first time in almost three years. He did a good job limiting hits, and therefore runs, pitching to a solid 3.38 ERA, but he also gave up nine walks and one hit-by-pitch to just 10 strikeouts. His 4.67 xERA and 5.32 SIERA suggested his sub-4.00 ERA was too good to be true. Evidently, that’s what the Yankees thought, too, when they decided to release him and eat the money remaining on his contract for 2025.

The Giants will now give him a chance in their minor league system, and they’ll only have to pay him a prorated portion of the league minimum salary for any time he might spend on the big league roster. While injuries have plagued him the last three seasons, he was a productive innings eater for three years before that. San Francisco could certainly use the pitching depth, so it would not be surprising to see him back in the majors before the 2025 season is up.