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Giants Rumors

Giants Designate LaMonte Wade Jr., Sign Dominic Smith

By Steve Adams | June 4, 2025 at 11:38am CDT

The Giants are shaking up their struggling offense. The team announced Wednesday that first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. and backup catcher Sam Huff have been designated for assignment. Veteran first baseman Dominic Smith, who recently opted out of a minor league deal with the Yankees, has been signed to a one-year, major league contract. San Francisco also selected the contracts of outfielder Daniel Johnson and catcher Andrew Knizner from Triple-A and optioned infielder Christian Koss.

After a hot start to the season, the Giants have dropped 14 of their past 23 games. The offense has been the primary culprit, particularly over the past two weeks. Over the past 14 days, Giants hitters have posted a combined .209/.297/.306 batting line. They haven’t scored more than four runs in a game since May 16 and have been shut out or held to one run seven times in that span.

Wade’s struggles have been a major component of the team’s offensive drought, but unlike many of his teammates, the 31-year-old veteran has simply never gotten going in 2025. Wade was hitless in his first 18 trips to the plate this season and hasn’t pulled himself out of that funk. He’s batting .167/.275/.271 on the season and is currently in the midst of a 3-for-22 skid.

It’s been a swift and fairly shocking decline for Wade, who was a solidly above-average bat for San Francisco from 2021-24. He’s been the Giants’ primary first baseman in that stretch, and while he’s never been a huge power threat, he’s been an on-base machine. Wade was one of the best acquisitions of the Farhan Zaidi era in San Francisco, coming over from the Twins in a Feb. 2021 trade that sent righty Shaun Anderson to Minnesota. The swap drew minimal attention at the time, but Wade went on to bat .248/.352/.415 in his first four years as a Giant.

As recently as last season, Wade slashed .260/.380/.381 with a massive 15.5% walk rate. He’s been heavily platooned in his career, taking just 12% of his plate appearances against lefties and slashing .193/.288/.250 in that time, but Wade has been consistently productive against righties until 2025.

Wade’s 2025 struggles seem to stem from a loss of bat speed and, accordingly, pronounced troubles against velocity. He punished four-seamers from ’21-’24 but is hitting just .164 with a .262 slugging percentage against them in 2025. Statcast measured Wade’s bat speed at 73.8 mph in 2023 and 72.4 mph in 2024; he’s down to 69.7 mph in 2025, which places him in the 18th percentile of big league hitters.

Wade is still drawing walks at an outstanding 12.4% clip, and his 18.1% chase rate on pitches off the plate is the sixth-lowest among the 220 MLB hitters with at least 150 plate appearances this season. It’s clear that he has excellent pitch recognition and is still making good swing decisions — he’s just not doing any damage when he does make those correct choices.

In Wade’s defense, his .211 average on balls in play is more than 70 points shy of league-average. That can’t be entirely explained by bad luck, however, as he’s currently sporting a career-high 47.3% fly-ball rate. Fly-balls that stay in the yard are easier to convert into outs than grounders and especially line-drives, so even there’s unquestionably been some bad luck at play, Wade’s current batted-ball profile shouldn’t portend a rebound all the way back to his career .279 BABIP. That’s especially true given that he’s already hit more harmless infield pop-ups (six) through 169 plate appearances than he did in all of 2024 (four) in 401 trips to the plate.

Wade is being paid $5MM and is a free agent at season’s end. There’s still about $3.12MM of that sum that’s yet to be paid out. That figure could make it hard to find a trade partner, though the Giants could pay down a portion of the salary if another team has some interest.

The remaining money on Wade’s contract might be steep enough to allow him to pass through waivers if the Giants go that route, as any team that claimed him would take on that full $3.12MM (or a bit less, depending on the date he’s actually placed on waivers). If Wade were to clear, he has enough service time to reject a minor league assignment and retain the rest of that guaranteed money. In that scenario, any club that signs him would only need to pay him the prorated league minimum. That’d be subtracted from what the Giants owe him, but San Francisco would still be on the hook for the rest of his salary.

For at least the time being, Wade will be replaced by Smith. The former first-round pick is a veteran of eight big league seasons but has seen his offense drop after a huge 2019-20 showing wherein he batted .299/.366/.571 in 396 plate appearances with the Mets. Smith has begun to slip into journeyman status; the Giants are his seventh organization since 2022.

However, even though Smith has bounced around the league, he’s managed to deliver passable, if unspectacular offense in each of the past two seasons. Over 893 plate appearances between the Nationals, Red Sox and Reds, he’s slashed a combined .247/.321/.370. That’s about 8% worse than average, by measure of wRC+, but is still miles better than what Wade has produced so far in 2025. Smith was hitting decently with the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate in Scranton, slashing .255/.333/.448 with eight homers in 189 turns at the plate.

In all likelihood, Smith will be a placeholder at first base. Top prospect Bryce Eldridge was promoted from Double-A to Triple-A yesterday and shouldn’t be too far from getting a look in the majors. The 2023 first-rounder is still only 20 years old, but you wouldn’t know it when taking a look at the .280/.350/.512 line (147 wRC+) he produced against older, more experienced competition in Double-A this year. Eldridge is widely regarded as one of baseball’s 25 best prospects, and once he gets a call to the majors, he’ll get everyday at-bats at first base. Smith could hang around in a bench role if he’s hitting well enough, but Eldridge is considered San Francisco’s first baseman of the future and shouldn’t be long for the minors.

Huff, 27, has appeared in 20 games this year and only tallied one multi-hit effort. In 58 plate appearances, he’s turned in a .208/.259/.340 batting line with a huge 43.1% strikeout rate. The former Rangers top prospect has struggled to make contact throughout his limited run in the majors over the years. Huff entered 2025 with a career 33.6% strikeout rate in 214 plate appearances at the MLB level.

Patrick Bailey is entrenched as the Giants’ starter behind the plate and is among the sport’s best defenders at any position, but he’s struggling with the bat as well (.191/.254/.276). Bailey is so good defensively that the Giants aren’t going to make any changes there, but with their catcher batting an MLB-worst .191/.253/.291, they’ll shuffle things up on the reserve side and hope for a bit more offense from Knizner.

Knizner, 30, isn’t a great hitter himself. He’s a career .210/.279/.317 hitter in 887 major league plate appearances. That said, his career 23% strikeout rate is markedly lower than that of Huff. Knizner isn’t as well regarded from a pitch-framing standpoint, but Statcast gives him much better grades than Huff when it comes to blocking balls in the dirt.

Knizner has also had a massive showing in Triple-A this year, batting a combined .378/.512/.520 with more walks than strikeouts in 129 plate appearances between the top affiliates for the Nationals and the Giants. No one would realistically expect him to maintain even 75% of that pace in the majors, but given Huff’s struggles and the broader-reaching difficulties incurred by the Giants’ lineup as a whole, it’s not a surprise that Knizner’s eye-popping numbers earned him a bump to the big leagues.

Rounding out today’s influx of new bats in the Giants clubhouse is Johnson, whom they signed out of the Mexican League earlier this season. As was the case with Jerar Encarnacion in 2024, Johnson posted video game numbers in Mexico (.429/.512/.943) and caught the eye of Giants scouts. He’s been quite good since signing back on May 2, hitting .272/.312/.534 with six homers and five steals in 109 plate appearances. He’s seen brief MLB time with the Guardians and Orioles but has only 95 big league plate appearances to his credit. Johnson has a solid Triple-A track record, having slashed .257/.323/.452 in parts of six seasons.

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New York Yankees Newsstand San Francisco Giants Transactions Andrew Knizner Christian Koss Daniel Johnson Dominic Smith LaMonte Wade Jr. Sam Huff

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Giants Release Jake Lamb, Move Bryce Eldridge To Triple-A

By Anthony Franco | June 3, 2025 at 10:09pm CDT

The Giants released veteran first baseman Jake Lamb from his minor league deal on Monday, according to the MLB.com transaction tracker. That’s tied to a move for their top prospect, as Bryce Eldridge has been bumped up to Triple-A Sacramento. Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle first reported the Eldridge move.

Lamb, 34, signed an offseason minor league contract. He hit .240/.352/.353 across 176 plate appearances. He walked at a strong 11.9% clip while striking out a quarter of the time. The lefty-hitting Lamb has accrued over eight years of MLB service and owns a .235/.326/.427 slash line in nearly 2700 big league plate appearances. His most recent MLB experience consisted of 19 games for the Angels in 2023.

Eldridge is a 20-year-old first baseman who was the Giants’ first-round pick out of high school two seasons ago. He made an eight-game cameo in Triple-A at the end of last year, a time when all of the organization’s lower level affiliates had already finished playing. There wasn’t any consideration to an MLB promotion at the time. A call in the coming weeks is much more realistic. After beginning this season on the shelf with a left wrist injury, Eldridge crushed Double-A pitching at a .280/.350/.512 clip in 34 games. He’s now back in Sacramento for a longer run than he got last season — unless the Giants feel compelled to call him to Oracle Park even more quickly.

President of baseball operations Buster Posey left the door open to Eldridge forcing their hand if he hits the ground running in Triple-A. “I think all of these decisions and conversations are fluid,” Posey said (link via Shayna Rubin of The San Francisco Chronicle). “Things can change. For Bryce, it’s best to get reps, but things change. So we’ll continue to have conversations and watch his progress.”

The Giants have had the worst first base production of any contender. They entered play tonight with .183/.291/.312 line out of the position. They’re last in batting average and slugging while ranking 21st in on-base percentage. Only the Pirates, Marlins and White Sox have received a lower OPS.

That mostly falls on LaMonte Wade Jr., who has a dismal .167/.275/.271 line after posting consecutive seasons with an OBP above .370 in 2023-24. Right-handed platoon partner Casey Schmitt hasn’t provided much either. Wade is day-to-day after being hit on the right hand by a Stephen Kolek pitch last night. Schmitt is starting against San Diego righty Ryan Bergert this evening.

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San Francisco Giants Transactions Bryce Eldridge Jake Lamb

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Giants Activate Jerar Encarnacion

By Anthony Franco | June 2, 2025 at 8:32pm CDT

The Giants activated first baseman/corner outfielder Jerar Encarnacion from the 60-day injured list before tonight’s game against San Diego. Outfielder Luis Matos was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento. The move bumps the team’s 40-man roster count to 39.

Encrnacion broke a bone in his left hand when he dove for a ball in Spring Training. He underwent surgery that knocked him out for the first two months of the season. Encarnacion had entered camp with a decent path to playing time, especially against left-handed pitching. He could pick up short-side platoon reps at first base from LaMonte Wade Jr. and figured to get a lot of run as the designated hitter.

Wilmer Flores has hit for enough power to establish himself as Bob Melvin’s top choice at DH. The lefty-swinging Wade has had a terrible season at first base, though. He’ll take a .167/.271/.271 slash line into play tonight. While Wade has never been a conventionally slugging first baseman, he reached base at north of a .370 clip in each of the past two seasons. The Giants continue to give him the majority of playing time against righty pitching. Casey Schmitt has gotten some first base reps as well. He’s hitting .195 with no homers in 15 games.

Encarnacion, 27, appeared in 35 games late last season. He hit five homers while slugging .425, but it came with a .248 average and a .277 on-base mark. His only previous experience consisted of 23 games for the Marlins in 2022. Wade remains the starter tonight against San Diego right-hander Stephen Kolek. Melvin conceded that he could cede playing time rather quickly if he doesn’t get on track offensively. “It’s going to be about performance here. If (Wade) starts to take off here he might see more playing time, and if not, you might see Jerar a little bit more,” he told reporters (link via Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area).

In either case, this remains an area to watch as the 33-26 Giants approach deadline season. Bryce Eldridge looms in the minors, but he’s still 20 years old and has yet to play a Triple-A game. Shayna Rubin of The San Francisco Chronicle wrote last week that the organization will get former top prospect Marco Luciano some first base reps in Triple-A as well. Luciano is only hitting .212/.335/.394 over 52 games with Sacramento, so he’s not an ideal option either.

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San Francisco Giants Transactions Jerar Encarnacion LaMonte Wade Jr. Luis Matos

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NL West Notes: King, Waldron, Ohtani, Giants

By Nick Deeds | May 31, 2025 at 10:38pm CDT

The Padres provided an update on the status of right-hander Michael King earlier today, as relayed by Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune. The good news is that King’s shoulder issue, which sent him to the injured list just last weekend, is not structural in nature. Rather, Sanders writes that the right-hander is dealing with a pinched nerve. Less fortunate, however, is that the Padres remain in the dark about what King’s timetable for a return to action will ultimately look like.

“Now that we’ve been able to locate what the issue is … just trying to get a handle on how to release that nerve a little bit that’s preventing that (scapula) from being able to fire appropriately,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said, as relayed by Sanders. “We’ve got some really smart people, including Michael himself, involved with that process that will get that going as soon as possible, and how soon that is is to the discretion of that nerve.”

The cause of the pinched nerve isn’t known, though King was initially scratched from his start last week due to discomfort in his shoulder after sleeping on it uncomfortably the night prior. Sanders adds that King sought a second opinion on the issue earlier this week and that, because he’s already started to improve, the Padres are not yet ruling out him resuming playing catch by the end of next week. That would potentially allow him to return to the rotation shortly after his minimum stint on the injured list expires without a rehab start, although ultimately King won’t be able to return until the nerve issue has completely resolved itself. Sanders suggests that right-hander Matt Waldron, who pitched 146 2/3 innings for San Diego last year but has been sidelined all season so far due to an oblique strain, could be ready to return from the injured list in the near future and take up King’s rotation spot while he’s on the shelf.

More from around the NL West…

  • The Dodgers watched as Shohei Ohtani continued his slow-going return to pitching earlier today, as Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times was among those to report that the superstar threw two innings of live BP against the Dodgers’ minor league hitters this afternoon. Harris notes that’s a slight uptick from last week’s 22 pitches, and that Ohtani recorded one strikeout and one walk along during the session. After the session, manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including USA Today’s Bob Nightengale) that the outing was a “positive” one for Ohtani, though his command wasn’t quite as sharp as his last time out. That Ohtani is continuing to make progress in his rehab is encouraging, although he remains expected to not pitch until some point in the second half of the season. Fortunately, rehabbing hasn’t seemed to slow him down one bit at the plate, as he entered play today slashing .294/.394/.670 with a 187 wRC+, 22 homers and 11 steals.
  • The Giants could be looking to make a change at first base in the near future, even with top prospect Bryce Eldridge not yet at Triple-A. As Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle reported on yesterday, the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Sacramento tabbed former top prospect Marco Luciano to serve as their first baseman in a game earlier this week. It’s a new position for the 23-year-old, who has already appeared at second base, shortstop, and in left field over the years, but Rubin notes that the River Cats are expected to continue using Luciano at first going forward as concern mounts about the club’s production at the position in the majors. LaMonte Wade Jr. is the club’s starter at the position, but after entering the year with a 115 wRC+ in a Giants uniform he’s slashed just .171/.278/.279 with a wRC+ of 60 across 48 games. Luciano has yet to hit in the majors himself, with a career 68 wRC+ in the majors, but even his meager production in 126 career plate appearances would be an improvement over Wade’s numbers this season. Plus, Luciano is a former consensus top-20 prospect in the sport who may be able to tap into that potential if offered regular reps at the big league level. While Luciano begins to learn the new position, the Giants will hope that Jerar Encarnación’s eventual return from the injured list is enough to help improve the club’s first base production going forward.
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Los Angeles Dodgers Notes San Diego Padres San Francisco Giants Jerar Encarnacion LaMonte Wade Jr. Marco Luciano Matt Waldron Michael King Shohei Ohtani

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Poll: Can Willy Adames Turn Things Around?

By Nick Deeds | May 30, 2025 at 3:11pm CDT

2025 has been a good time to be a Giants fan so far. Buster Posey’s turn at the helm of baseball operations has helped push the club to a solid 31-25 start, putting them just one game back of the Cardinals for the final NL Wild Card spot and three games back of the Dodgers for the NL West crown. While San Francisco would surely prefer to be in playoff position right now, it’s been a very encouraging start for a club that was projected by Fangraphs for an 81-81 record and a 28.5% chance of making the postseason prior to the start of the 2025 campaign. Strong as the club’s start has been, however, that’s been almost entirely without contribution from their marquee free agent signing of the 2024-25 offseason.

It’s been a rough first year in San Francisco for Willy Adames, to put it mildly. Long viewed as an excellent two-way shortstop, Adames has yet to post on either side of the ball for the Giants. Advanced defensive metrics are notoriously finicky and take quite a long time to stabilize, but Adames’s -3 Outs Above Average and -2 Fielding Run Value are both worrying figures for a player who was a Gold Glove candidate as recently as 2023, while his -8 DRS this year stands dead last among all qualifying shortstops. Errors are hardly the best way to measure defensive value, but only Manny Machado and Elly De La Cruz have committed more of them in 2025. No matter how you slice it, Adames has started his stay in the Bay Area off with lackluster defense.

Perhaps that would be easy enough to look past if Adames was putting up strong numbers at the plate. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case. He’s hitting just .208/.288/.333 with a wRC+ of 77. His 26.2% strikeout rate and 9.8% walk rate aren’t out of the ordinary relative to his career numbers, but they are the worst figures he’s posted in both categories since 2022. The primary red flag in Adames’s profile this year is his vanishing power, however. After averaging 28 homers a season from 2021 to 2024, the shortstop has hit just five in his first 56 games as a Giant.

At least some of that can be blamed on his ballpark, and Statcast suggests that Adames would have as many as eight homers if he played all of his games at a friendlier ballpark like Dodger Stadium. Park factors aren’t the only thing to blame for Adames’s power-outage, however. While his barrel rate of 11% is more or less in line with what he’s done throughout his career, Adames is pulling the ball less often than he ever did with the Brewers and hitting the ball softly more frequently than ever before. The fact that Adames has stopped pulling the ball as much and is hitting it the other way more is surely a big reason for his drop in power, particularly combined with the aforementioned unforgiving park factors at Oracle Park, which are especially harsh on right-handed oppo hitters.

That leaves Adames with an altered batted ball profile that works in tandem with his new environment to create some of the worst results of his career. That means his struggles aren’t likely to end so long as he keeps going the other way, but the good news is that Adames can get back to the approach he demonstrated in 2023 and ’24, when he pulled 45.8% of his batted balls and went the other way just 19.5% of the time, it’s not hard to imagine his results improving considerably. While it may be too late in the season at this point to expect Adames to match his 119 wRC+ from last year, getting back up around league average or even matching the 107 wRC+ he posted over the last four years could be a much more realistic target.

How do MLBTR readers think the rest of Adames’s season will play out from here? Will he be able to make the adjustments necessary to hit well in Oracle Park and turn his season around, or will he remain a below-average hitter this season? Have your say in the poll below:

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MLBTR Originals MLBTR Polls San Francisco Giants Willy Adames

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MLBTR Podcast: Bregman Injured, Marcelo Mayer Called Up, And Pirates Talk

By Darragh McDonald | May 28, 2025 at 11:40pm CDT

The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

  • The Red Sox calling up Marcelo Mayer with Alex Bregman landing on the injured list (0:55)
  • The Pirates losing Jared Jones to surgery and not considering a trade of Paul Skenes (11:30)

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Should the Orioles trade Félix Bautista at the deadline? (29:35)
  • What are the chances the Giants could sign Kyle Tucker this offseason? (35:10)
  • Are the Cardinals for real? (40:35)
  • Does Kevin Alcántara of the Cubs get traded this summer? (48:10)
  • The Dodgers have 14 pitchers on the injured list. Does this reflect poorly on the club’s training and conditioning? (51:15)

Check out our past episodes!

  • The Disappointing Orioles, Dalton Rushing, And The Phillies’ Bullpen – listen here
  • Devers Drama, Managerial Firings, And Jordan Lawlar – listen here
  • Replacing Triston Casas, A Shakeup In Texas, And The Blue Jays’ Rotation – listen here

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Bob DeChiara, Imagn Images

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Baltimore Orioles Boston Red Sox Chicago Cubs Los Angeles Dodgers MLB Trade Rumors Podcast Pittsburgh Pirates San Francisco Giants St. Louis Cardinals Jared Jones Marcelo Mayer Paul Skenes

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Giants Moving Camilo Doval Back To Closer Role

By Anthony Franco | May 28, 2025 at 11:07pm CDT

The Giants are moving Camilo Doval back into the closing role, manager Bob Melvin told reporters after Wednesday’s loss to the Tigers (video provided by Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area). Ryan Walker, who has held the job since the middle of April, is moving into a setup capacity. He pitched the eighth inning while trailing by a run during today’s game.

Walker only allowed one run through his first eight appearances. He has been more up-and-down since then, giving up multiple runs in four of his most recent 14 outings. Walker has still successfully closed out 10 of 12 save chances, but he carries an earned run average approaching 5.00. His strikeout rate, which sat north of 32% a season ago, is down to a pedestrian 21.6% clip this season.

While Walker will still receive his fair share of high-leverage assignments, Doval has recaptured the ninth inning with a fantastic first couple months. The hard-throwing righty owns a 1.16 ERA across his first 23 1/3 innings. He has given up six runs (three earned) all season, all of which came in a three-game span between April 4-7. Doval is closing in on a two-month scoreless streak that has spanned 18 innings. Opponents have collected four hits while striking out 18 times during that stretch.

The 27-year-old looks to have rediscovered the form that made him an All-Star two seasons ago. Doval led the National League with 39 saves in 2023 and posted consecutive sub-3.00 ERA showings between 2022-23. Things went off the rails in the second half of last season. Doval couldn’t find the strike zone, eventually costing him the closing job and his spot on the MLB roster altogether. The Giants optioned him back to Triple-A in August. They brought him back up in September, but he continued to struggle in lower-leverage situations.

San Francisco rebuffed trade interest in Doval over the winter, preferring not to sell low on an obviously talented arm. They’ve been rewarded for their patience with a rebound that could earn him another All-Star selection this summer. Doval is making $4.525MM and remains under arbitration control for two seasons beyond this one.

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San Francisco Giants Camilo Doval Ryan Walker

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Giants Temporarily Moving Kyle Harrison Into Rotation

By Anthony Franco | May 24, 2025 at 8:20am CDT

Kyle Harrison will make his first MLB start of the season this afternoon. The Giants southpaw is set to oppose Jake Irvin in the second game of this weekend’s set in Washington.

Manager Bob Melvin said Friday that the 23-year-old Harrison will take at lest two turns through the rotation (relayed by Justice De Los Santos of The San Jose Mercury News). Melvin wouldn’t commit to his role beyond that, saying that the “focus is on the next two starts. Then, we’ll see where we go from there.”

Harrison, once one of the game’s top pitching prospects, at least temporarily assumes the spot vacated by Justin Verlander. The three-time Cy Young winner went on the injured list with pectoral soreness earlier this week. Verlander expressed confidence that he’d be back right around when first eligible for reinstatement on June 3.

The Giants opted for Harrison to take the two starts that Verlander will definitely miss rather than pushing Jordan Hicks back into the rotation or promoting Carson Whisenhunt, whom they would have needed to add to the 40-man roster. He’d probably go back to the bullpen if Verlander makes it back as quickly as expected, but a setback or an injury to any other starter could lead to a more extended run.

Entering Spring Training, Harrison was the favorite to win the fifth starter job. He’d made 24 starts a year ago, posting a 4.56 ERA with league average strikeout and walk numbers across 124 1/3 innings. He was delayed in camp by lingering offseason shoulder soreness and an illness, however, allowing Landen Roupp and Hayden Birdsong to jump him on the depth chart. Roupp won the fifth starter role. Birdsong secured a multi-inning relief spot on Opening Day and has since been swapped into the rotation for Hicks. Harrison was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento to begin the season.

Harrison started six games in Triple-A, putting up a 3.46 ERA across 26 innings in a tough league for pitchers. He struck out a third of his opponents, the second-best mark for PCL pitchers with 20+ frames (behind only the A’s Jacob Lopez). Harrison also kept his walk rate to a solid 7% clip, earning him a recall to the majors in early May. The Giants have used him out of the bullpen four times since then. He has worked 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball, striking out seven while walking three. His fastball has averaged nearly 96 MPH in short stints after sitting in the 93-94 range during his minor league rotation work.

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San Francisco Giants Kyle Harrison

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David Villar Elects Free Agency

By Anthony Franco | May 22, 2025 at 9:42pm CDT

Infielder David Villar elected free agency after being outrighted by the Giants, relays Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. He’d been designated for assignment on Monday with Casey Schmitt returning from the injured list.

Villar, 28, will look for a new opportunity for the first time in his career. He has been with the Giants since they selected him in the 11th round of the 2018 draft. The right-handed hitter showed some promise during his rookie season three years ago. He hit nine home runs with a .455 slugging percentage in 52 games. He would have needed to improve upon a 32% strikeout rate to find long-term success, though.

The Giants never gave him much of a chance to do so. Villar appeared in 46 games the following season, and he hit just .145 while striking out 32% of the time. That more or less closed the book on his MLB tenure in San Francisco. He has appeared in only 20 big league contests over the past two seasons. Villar has tallied well over 1200 Triple-A plate appearances over the last three years. He’s a lifetime .273/.381/.507 hitter with 61 home runs at the top minor league level.

That minor league production has also come with a decent amount of swing-and-miss. Villar has punched out at a near-26% clip in Triple-A. He has cleared outright waivers twice in the past two months, suggesting every team has trepidation about him making enough contact to produce at the big league level. He’d be limited to minor league offers if he remains in the affiliated ranks. Speculatively speaking, he could also explore opportunities in a foreign league. That’s a relatively common path for players in their mid-late 20s who have had Triple-A success but face questions about their ability to hit major league pitching.

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San Francisco Giants Transactions David Villar

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Giants Sign Andrew Knizner To Minor League Deal

By Anthony Franco | May 21, 2025 at 8:48pm CDT

The Giants signed catcher Andrew Knizner to a minor league contract. The deal was first reflected on the MLB.com transaction log. He has already made his organizational debut, collecting hits in each of his first three at-bats with Triple-A Sacramento.

Knizner is picking up where he’d left off as a member of the Nationals organization. The 30-year-old had raked at a .382/.516/.500 clip with more walks than strikeouts over 23 games for their top affiliate. Washington nevertheless granted him his release over the weekend. Knizner was set to trigger an opt-out. The Nats preferred to stick with their current catching tandem of Keibert Ruiz and Riley Adams rather than override the opt-out by calling him up.

While Knizner obviously isn’t going to keep up this pace, he’s a productive minor league hitter. He carried a .287/.379/.435 batting line over parts of four Triple-A seasons into play tonight. He has had a far tougher time against MLB pitching. Knizner is a career .210/.279/.317 hitter in almost 900 plate appearances at the big league level. He spent parts of five seasons backing up Yadier Molina and Willson Contreras, respectively, in St. Louis.

Knizner moved to Texas on a $1.825MM free agent deal heading into 2024. He spent most of the year as Jonah Heim’s backup, but he didn’t perform especially well. Knizner hit .167/.183/.211 over 35 games. Texas acquired Carson Kelly at the deadline and designated Knizner for assignment not long after. He landed with the Diamondbacks via waiver claim. His time in Arizona consisted of 22 Triple-A games. The Snakes outrighted him off their 40-man roster without getting him into a big league contest.

Patrick Bailey is entrenched as the starting catcher in San Francisco. Sam Huff hasn’t provided much in sporadic playing time as the backup. He’s hitting .200 with one homer and 22 strikeouts in 49 plate appearances. Knizner joins Max Stassi and Logan Porter as non-roster depth at Triple-A. Knizner has been the most productive of that trio in the minors this year, potentially positioning him as the top challenger if the Giants decide to move on from the out-of-options Huff at any point.

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San Francisco Giants Transactions Andrew Knizner

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