TODAY: The Giants have released Borucki, according to his transactions log at MLB.com. Borucki is now a free agent and free to sign with any club.
May 31: The Giants have designated left-hander Ryan Borucki for assignment and selected the contract of outfielder Jonah Cox from Double-A Richmond, according to the San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser. Outfielder Will Brennan has also been optioned to Triple-A, with righty Tristan Beck recalled in his place.
After being cut by the White Sox near the end of Spring Training, Borucki quickly caught on with the Giants on a big league contract. The results haven’t been there for Borucki in his ninth MLB season, as the southpaw has a 4.94 ERA, 14.4% strikeout rate, and 8.7% walk rate across 23 2/3 relief innings. Just when it seemed like Borucki was getting on track after a shaky start to the season, he gave up five earned runs over his last three outings and 5 1/3 innings of work.
As usual, Borucki has drastic splits, as left-handed batters have only a .550 OPS against him this season (while righty batters have a whopping 1.085 OPS). A team in need of southpaw relief help could be inclined to claim Borucki off San Francisco’s waiver wire, but the likelier scenario is that he’ll clear waivers and then be outrighted to Triple-A. Borucki has been outrighted in the past, so he can elect free agency rather than accept that assignment.
The 24-year-old Cox will be making his Major League debut whenever he appears in a game, and Cox will get his first taste of the Show before even getting a look at the Triple-A level. It seems like Cox’s superb performance in Richmond couldn’t be ignored, as Cox is hitting .400/.453/.644 with six home runs and 27 steals (in 34 attempts) over 183 Double-A plate appearances.
Cox has never posted anything close to these numbers in his previous three minor league seasons, and he is surely getting a lot of help from an eye-opening .464 BABIP. That said, Cox’s elite speed has helped him generate large BABIPs in the past, and he has drastically cut back on his strikeout rate to 16.9% in Double-A ball.
The bat has been the only question mark about Cox’s game, as his defense and speed were already seen as ready for primetime. Those plus skills alone make Cox a viable bench piece for the Giants and perhaps a platoon partner for Drew Gilbert in center field, even if there’s bound to be a learning curve as Cox makes the big jump from facing Double-A pitching to big league arms. The Giants rank last in baseball in stolen bases, so Cox should provide an immediate boost on the basepaths.
Baseball America ranks Cox 21st on their list of Giants prospects. Cox was a sixth-round pick for the Athletics in the 2023 draft, and he was dealt to San Francisco in the February 2024 trade that sent Ross Stripling to the A’s.
Let’s Go!
Time for a youth movement and reset. This team has been hard on my health to watch this year.
Cox is a very exciting player and hopefully injects some energy into this lineup.
I’ll be shocked if Jonah gets more than 4-8 at-bats a week anytime soon.
Dave: I’m with you on the my health. Been rough to watch.
After the 2 blown saves in one Philadelphia day, I was like…..ok. It can’t get worse than that. I’m good.
I was wrong.
The Giants got Cox from the A’s for Ross Stripling. Of course the Giants paid for most of Stripling’s salary. Cox really came into his own this year. Batting .400 in Richmond is a feat.
Even without hindsight that was an awful trade for the A’s. They were going nowhere that season, weren’t close to being a competitive team, so whoever decided to trade a CF prospect of this caliber for 1-year of a backend starter is a God-tier moron.
Watched Cox in college and he was a beast. Almost single handedly led a random small school to the College World Series and thought for sure he was going to be at least a 2nd round pick that year. Even if his career amounts to nothing the Giants straight up robbed us lol.
They needed striplings salary didn’t they. To inflate their payroll.
The Stripling trade went down when the Giants were considering allowing the A’s to play in Sacramento.
That trade only makes sense when you view it through that lens; Giants dumped Stripling, got Cox and the A’s got to play in Sacramento for 3 years.
Let’s see what.400 translates to in the bigs.
Boy do they need a spark. Sure hope Jonah is it!
Jed Hoyer just got a twitch….waiver claim incoming in 3, 2, 1…
@CubsAreMidButTheresAlwaysHope
Ross Atkins is having a full bloom blown seizure. Juenger, the most recent call up, just got tagged for 3 runs (2 BB) in an inning of work.
Mantiply (a lefty) is also on the IL. Waiver claim made in heaven.
For me, the giants have just been filling the time in between weekly minor league updates. This guy has been the undisputed star amongst much positivity in those updates. An epic tear that just hasn’t stopped. Who needs aaa. Good luck. Well earned.
A great opportunity due to Prancer’s facetious. I hope he sticks and forces a more permanent solution.
Glad they are starting to play Eldridge every day. It’s paying off.
Fasciitis is the word I was looking for…
The Prancers feet fascia has had enough of the high stepping. Fair enough too. M
Agreed on Eldridge. Way happier with the number of at bats.
Yeah. Go get em Jonah. If they are performing well in the minors, let’s see them.
I could see a Pirates reunion. I’m not really advocating for one, Borucki wasn’t anything special, but I could see it.
Team seems to be grasping at straws at this point. Posey says he not ready to throw in the towel yet but it sounds like he’s not that far off. Getting pretty hard to watch.
I’m guessing he is not ready to admit that he is ready to throw in the towel.
Now who are the Giants going to use to blow games wide open…Borucki was that garbage worker
@Datashark
Give it a day or so to see who the Jays designate.
The bigger story is Beck coming back. We’ll see how the right hander does.
I like Beck. He’s been solid.
Now Borucki ?
Never understood the signing, never saw anything but disaster.
This move was overdue.
I think the Borucki move was to make sure they had a lefty with Miller’s seemingly endless list of injuries and Hentges starting the year hurt, Borucki was just a lefty. With Hentges back and Miller somewhat healthy again- he’s not needed.
It’s too bad Borucki couldn’t develop an effective pitch to use against RHHs. And, I guess the pitching coaches were no help in that regard either.
His platoon splits are extreme. A few years ago he would have been a loogy. He has .550 OPS against LHHs this season. But the 3 batter minimum rule relegates him to unusable, with a 1.085 OPS against RHHs.
Hentges the new Borucki.
Thanks Buster for not getting a closer.
Yeah. That “someone will stand up” call isn’t aging well at all. It’s brutal viewing. My heart was bleeding for both Tony and Keaton yesterday.
I still don’t know what to think about Keaton. He seems to have good stuff, and in some appearances looks dominant.
I don’t know why they were throwing PCA anything close to the zone. Coming to bat the guy was 3 for 4 with the platoon advantage. 2 outs with nobody on, and yet he hangs a slider in the middle of the zone. I know Ballesteros also had the platoon advantage, but with the game on the line wouldn’t you rather pitch to him instead of PCA?
I thought the same……after he hit the home run. Cocky little mfarker !!
I thought about it for a longtime though. Tony is in a tough spot with options out of the pen.
Agreed on Keaton. The mistake seems to get hit more often than not.