The Giants announced that they have selected right-handers Carson Seymour and Carson Ragsdale to their 40-man roster, protecting them from being available in the Rule 5 draft. They had one roster vacancy but opened another by designating righty Kai-Wei Teng for assignment.
Teng, 25, signed with the Twins as an international amateur out of Taiwan prior to the 2018 season. He was traded for the Giants the following year in the deal that shipped right-hander Sam Dyson to Minnesota at that year’s trade deadline. Teng slowly climbed the minor league ladder with the Giants, though he did so with generally middling results at each level along the way. Back in March, the righty made his big league debut just after Opening Day. He ultimately made just four multi-inning relief appearances in the majors, however, and struggled badly with a 9.82 ERA in 11 innings of work. Command was the right-hander’s primary issue, as he actually recorded more walks (eight) than strikeouts (seven) during his brief stay on the big league roster.
Teng was optioned back to the minors in mid-April, but unfortunately did not see his numbers improve when he headed to Triple-A. He split his time at the level between the club’s rotation and bullpen, with 13 starts and ten relief appearances. Things did not go well for Teng, however, as he was torched to the tune of a 8.60 ERA across 75 1/3 innings of work. He struck out just 17% of opponents at the level this year while walking 12.3%, leaving him with a strikeout-to-walk ratio that would be untenable for any pitcher. Given Teng’s deep struggles, it’s not necessarily a surprise that the Giants decided to part ways with the righty. San Francisco will now have one week to attempt to trade the righty or place him on waivers, where he would be available for any of the league’s 29 other clubs to claim.
Teng’s departure makes room on the 40-man roster for the additions of Seymour and Ragsdale. Ragsdale, 26, is a starting pitcher who missed the majority of the 2022 and ’23 seasons due to injury but returned strong in 2024. The right-hander began the season with his first taste of upper-minors action at the Double-A level and excelled, pitching to a 3.49 ERA in 67 innings of work across 14 starts. He struck out an excellent 33.1% of opponents faced, though he was held back somewhat by an elevated 11.5% walk rate. Even so, that was more than enough to earn Ragsdale a mid-season call-up to Triple-A. Unfortunately, Triple-A was not quite as forgiving for the right-hander as Double-A. He struggled in 13 appearances (12 starts) at the level with a 5.03 ERA in 53 2/3 innings of work. His walk rate largely held steady at 11%, but his strikeout rate dipped to just 24.1% at the highest level of the minors.
Seymour, meanwhile, won’t turn 26 until next month. The right-hander was acquired by the Giants in the deal that sent Darin Ruf to the Mets and actually struggled through something of a down season at Triple-A this year, as he surrendered a 4.82 ERA in 134 1/3 innings of work. He struck out 22.1% of opponents while walking 10.1%. Prior to his struggles this year, however, Seymour had pitched to strong results in back-to-back seasons. In a 2022 season split between the Mets and Giants organizations, Seymour posted a 3.08 ERA in 111 innings between the Single-A and High-A levels while striking out 29.3% of opponents. The righty posted slightly diminished but still solid numbers in his first full season with the Giants last year at Double-A, as he pitched to a 3.99 ERA in 112 2/3 innings of work with a 24.4% strikeout rate.
