Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Carson Whisenhunt

Giants Designate Carson Ragsdale For Assignment

By | at

The Giants announced Monday that they’ve designated minor league right-hander Carson Ragsdale for assignment. His spot on the roster goes to lefty Carson Whisenhunt, whose previously reported promotion to the majors has now been made official. Right-hander Sean Hjelle was optioned to Triple-A to open a 26-man roster spot.

Ragsdale, 27, was a fourth-round pick by the Phillies back in 2020 and made his way to the Giants organization in a 2021 trade for reliever Sam Coonrod. He’s steadily climbed the ranks while battling various injuries but had a healthy 2024 campaign in which he tossed a career-high 120 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A. He was more successful at the former than the latter in terms of ERA, strikeout rate and home-run rate, but that’s perhaps to be expected for a pitcher who was pushing his largest workload in three years and went on to set a new personal-best in that regard.

The 2025 season hasn’t been a good one, however. Ragsdale has spent the whole year in Triple-A and currently sports a 5.37 ERA a career-low 19.9% strikeout rate and a career-worst 13% walk rate. His average fastball is down from 93.4 mph last year to 92.6 mph in 2025. He’s run into a particularly tough stretch of late, with 15 earned runs — on the strength of an alarming nine homers — over his past 18 innings pitched.

Ragsdale entered the season ranked 20th among Giants prospects at Baseball America and 13th at FanGraphs. The Giants will be able to trade him up until Thursday’s 3pm PT deadline but after that would have to place him on either outright waivers or release waivers. Ragsdale has a bit of pedigree and is in the first of three minor league option seasons, so a club in need of some pitching depth might have interest in taking him on as a project in the next few days, whether via small trade or waiver claim.

Giants To Promote Carson Whisenhunt

By | at

Giants pitching prospect Carson Whisenhunt will make his Major League debut on Monday as San Francisco’s scheduled starter against the Pirates.  The move seemed to be in the cards since Whisenhunt was scratched from a planned Triple-A start on Saturday, and he arrived in the Oracle Park clubhouse today as a member of the Giants’ taxi squad.  The corresponding transaction(s) will be announced tomorrow to add the left-hander to both the active roster and the 40-man roster.

Manager Bob Melvin officially confirmed the call-up when speaking with reporters (including Justice delos Santos of the San Jose Mercury News) after tonight’s 5-3 loss to the Mets.  “We’ve been waiting for this for a little bit now,” Melvin said.  “We thought maybe he’d be here last year, too.  He’s our top pitching prospect, I believe.  With what’s going on with the injury and [Hayden Birdsong] going down, there’s a need for it.”

Birdsong was optioned to the minors earlier this week, and Landen Roupp was placed on the 15-day injured list on Friday due to right elbow inflammation.  This dropped the Giants’ rotation down to just Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, and Justin Verlander, and the club had to deploy a bullpen game for tonight’s contest with New York.  The loss was the Giants’ ninth in their last 11 games, and the 54-52 team is now three games back of the Padres for the final NL wild card berth.

Starting pitching is a target area for the Giants as the deadline approaches, but getting some quality results from Whisenhunt at the beginning of his MLB career would be an enormous help for the club.  A second-round pick for San Francisco in the 2022 draft, Whisenhunt was garnering top-100 attention prior to a 2024 season that saw him post a 5.42 ERA over 104 2/3 innings at Triple-A Sacramento.  Whisenhunt hasn’t been a ton better this year, with a 4.42 ERA in 97 2/3 IP.  While the southpaw has reduced his ERA and walk rate, his strikeout rate has also dropped from 28.4% in 2024 to 21% this year.

Pitching in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League could very well be a factor in Whisenhunt’s struggles, yet he’ll face additional challenges by moving up to face big league hitters.  Whisenhunt’s signature pitch is a 70-grade changeup that has drawn raves from evaluators, and his 92-94mph fastball is considered a plus pitch with enough sink to overcome somewhat average velocity.  That fastball is a little inconsistent, however, which is an issue since the lefty doesn’t have a reliable third pitch in his arsenal.  The development of Whisenhunt’s slider could be the determining factor whether or not he can stick as a starting pitcher or if a move to the bullpen could be in his MLB future.

As much as San Francisco’s lack of offense has been the team’s biggest obstacle, the lack of reliable rotation depth behind Webb and Ray is another issue for the playoff push.  Adding a veteran arm to support the big two starters would help at the deadline, and is perhaps a more readily fixable problem given how the Giants may not need to add bats as much as they need several of their slumping hitters to get rolling.  There’s plenty of opportunity here for Whisenhunt to carve out a niche for himself in the rotation and set himself up for a starting job heading into next season.

Giants Notes: Devers, Eldridge, Payroll

By | at

The baseball world was stunned by Sunday’s Rafael Devers trade and further details have continued to spill out in subsequent days. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the Red Sox asked for prospect Bryce Eldridge in trade talks but the Giants quickly rebuffed that.

Eldridge is clearly a talented prospect, making it understandable that the Sox would ask about him, and that the Giants preferred to keep him. The 16th overall pick of the 2023 draft, he has since taken 845 plate appearances in the minors, hitting 39 home runs with an 11.5% walk rate. His 26.5% strikeout rate is a bit on the high side but he’s also been facing far older competition basically the whole time. He’s now in Triple-A even though he’s still only 20 years old.

He started this year at Double-A and mashed, putting up a line of .280/.350/.512 in 34 games. That got him quickly promoted to Triple-A, where his production has stalled a bit. He is hitting just .160/.232/.340 at the top minor league level so far with a 33.9% strikeout rate. But it’s a small sample of 13 games and, as mentioned, he is extremely young for the level.

By keeping Eldridge in the fold, the Giants may have a bit of a squeeze in the first base/designated hitter mix over the long run. It appears that Devers’ days of being a third baseman are effectively done. Matt Chapman is one of the top defensive third basemen in the league and is signed through 2030. Devers is now learning first base and could be a viable option at that spot in the coming weeks.

Whenever Eldridge earns his way up to the majors, he and Devers will have to share the first base and DH spots, though that may not be a short-term problem if Eldridge still needs some time to develop against Triple-A pitching. The Giants are presumably fine with the long-term fit, since they seemingly took a hard line against even considering Eldridge being included in the deal.

Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area also reports on the Sox asking for Eldridge and notes that players like Hayden Birdsong and Carson Whisenhunt also came up at times during the talks. It’s unclear if the Giants were opposed to dealing those guys or if the Sox just preferred Kyle Harrison and James Tibbs, who ultimately were included in the completed deal.

Beyond the players, money was a key component of this trade, with Devers having about $250MM still to be paid out over the eight and a half years remaining on his contract. Jordan Hicks is still owed about $30MM in the two and a half years remaining on his deal, which offsets that somewhat, but the Giants still took on roughly $220MM in the swap. Considering the largest contract the Giants have ever signed in the history of the franchise is the $182MM free agent deal for Willy Adames, absorbing the money in the Devers trade was no small matter.

With that kind of financial commitment changing hands, ownership would naturally have to be involved. Giants chairman Greg Johnson spoke to John Shea of The San Francisco Standard, noting that he and Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy spoke about the pact fairly early in the process, at the urging of Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey.

“I talked to [Kennedy] at the (owners’) meetings (in early June) in New York, and I talked to him this week. Just put the message in that we’re serious. It’s not just chatter. Nobody wants to do all this work and then say, ’Oh, now we’ve got to sell it to our owners.’ We wanted to let the other owners know ’these guys are serious. They want to get something done.’ That changes the urgency. Buster was very smart to recognize that point. That goes back to his sense. He’s got a good nose for how people think and operate. It’s one of his strengths.”

RosterResource currently estimates the Giants to have a competitive balance tax number of almost $223MM, roughly $18MM below the $241MM base threshold. That should leave the club plenty of wiggle room to continue adding to the roster ahead of the deadline, whether they plan to avoid the tax or not.

Photo courtesy of D. Ross Cameron, Imagn Images

Giants Considering Trading From Group Of Young Pitchers

By | at

The Giants are entertaining the idea of trading from their group of young and controllable pitching prospects, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. He says that signing a veteran will make it more likely but it’s a path they are already considering. As for who is in this group that Rosenthal is referring to, he lists lefties Kyle Harrison and Carson Whisenhunt as well as righties Tristan Beck, Keaton Winn, Mason Black and Hayden Birdsong.

The rotation in San Francisco doesn’t look like a strength right now. They recently had Alex Wood and Jakob Junis reach free agency, with Sean Manaea following them by opting out of his contract. The club picked up their option on Alex Cobb, but he’s going to miss at least the first month or so of the season due to hip surgery.

That leaves the club with Logan Webb and a number of questions. Anthony DeSclafani has dealt with ankle, shoulder and elbow injuries over the past two seasons, limiting him 118 2/3 innings of fairly ineffective work. Ross Stripling posted a 5.36 ERA in his 89 innings this year. Harrison debuted in 2023 but has just 34 2/3 innings of major league experience, in which he allowed eight home runs. Winn and Beck also debuted but they also have limited workloads so far and less prospect hype than Harrison.

None of Black, Whisenhunt nor Birdsong are on the 40-man roster, but Black has reached Triple-A and the latter two have made it to the Double-A level. Baseball America currently lists Whisenhunt as the club’s #5 prospect, Black at #8 and Birdsong at #12.

There is a lot of potential in that group but very few sure things. Subtracting someone from the flock would be a risk, but Rosenthal frames it as something that might need to be considered in order to add young, athletic position players.

On the whole, the club’s defense wasn’t strong in 2023. Their collective -15 Defensive Runs Saved and -17.1 grade from Ultimate Zone Rating were both in the bottom third of the league. Outs Above Average was a bit more bullish, giving them a +15, but it’s perhaps worth pointing out that Thairo Estrada alone had a +20. Brandon Crawford, now a free agent, was second on the club with +6.

President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi stated at the start of the offseason that upgrading the outfield defense was a priority. Since then, the club signed one of the youngest free agents available in 25-year-old Jung Hoo Lee. Perhaps further outfield changes could be considered, with bat-first guys like Michael Conforto and Mitch Haniger still in the mix for playing time.

Zaidi also said that Marco Luciano will have the chance to take over the shortstop position to replace Crawford, but then later said that they would still consider bringing in depth because “it makes sense for us to have some insurance.”

Generally speaking, finding young and athletic players in free agency is hard to do. Since it takes six years of service time to reach the open market, most players don’t get there until close to or after their 30th birthday. With the Giants looking to get younger and more athletic, it makes sense that they jumped at the chance to sign Lee, but he was a unique exception since he was coming over from the Korea Baseball Organization.

If the Giants are looking for another young player to help with their athleticism, free agency offers limited options. That’s particularly true of the shortstop position, where Tim Anderson and Isiah Kiner-Falefa are some of the standouts. Teams like the Reds, Twins, Rays, Cardinals and Orioles have lots of position players and could be willing to make a deal, but they would all likely be looking for young and controllable pitching in return.

As with any potential trade scenarios, the chances of something getting done will ultimately depend on the offers coming the other way. It will also depend upon the other paths the Giants pursue. They have been connected to starting pitching upgrades, including reported interest in Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell and Yariel Rodríguez. They have also had some interest in free agent position players like Matt Chapman and Cody Bellinger. There are still many moving pieces but it seems as though there’s a non-zero chance of them making some young and controllable pitchers available, which will surely intrigue many rival clubs around the league.

MLB Announces Futures Game Rosters

By | at

Major League Baseball announced rosters for the 2023 Futures Game this evening. The contest — a seven-inning exhibition between some of the sport’s most talented minor leaguers — kicks off All-Star festivities in Seattle on Saturday, July 8.

As Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com notes, 28 of the 50 players on the roster are included on MLB Pipeline’s recent Top 100 prospects list. Six of Pipeline’s top ten will participate. The full rosters (MLB Pipeline prospect rank included, if applicable):

American League

National League

Big Hype Prospects: Westburg, Matos, Crawford, Whisenhunt, Anthony

By | at

The Orioles are finally calling up one of their top hitting prospects, and it isn’t the one I expected to get the first call. Jordan Westburg will make his debut later today. I expected Colton Cowser to win the race to the Majors. With Cedric Mullins recently returning, Cowser is left to await another injury or Aaron Hicks’ inevitable collapse (good outcomes, deeply terrible EVs).

Five Big Hype Prospects

Jordan Westburg, 24, 2B/3B/SS, BAL (AAA)
301 PA, 18 HR, 6 SB, .295/.372/.567

There’s a disconnect between public perceptions of Westburg and scouting reports. The bat will play, though Westburg’s penchant to swing-and-miss could result in long slumps as reports identify exploitable weaknesses. His minor league exit velocities would rate as above average in the Majors. Additionally, Westburg seemingly mixes discipline and targeted aggression in a way that could help keep his strikeouts under control – it has thus far in the minors.

The trouble is his defense. He’s trained all over the infield. Some think he’ll eventually land in left field. We see these sorts of bat-first players all over the league. His flexibility enables the club to view him as a tenth man akin to Chris Taylor (to be clear, Taylor is a far superior fielder). When approaching roster construction, Westburg can be slotted into whatever spot needs filling or else rotate with the regulars to keep everyone fresh.

Luis Matos, 21, OF, SFG (MLB)
45 PA, 1 HR, 2 SB, .282/.378/.385

On the back of a mediocre AFL performance, it wasn’t guaranteed the Giants were going to roster Matos this year. He would have likely gone early in the Rule 5 draft if they hadn’t. Matos immediately rewarded San Francisco’s decision to protect him. Though discipline has long been a weakness, he has more walks than strikeouts through 45 plate appearances after hitting .398/.435/.685 in 116 Triple-A plate appearances. The 21-year-old has looked like a new hitter this year.

There are still worrying details under the surface. His 89.5-mph average and 107.5-mph max exit velocities suggest middling power. Given his age, he could easily grow into more power – several evaluators believe this will happen. It’s my expectation Matos will soon enter a slump due to poor quality of contact. However, I’m optimistic about the long-range picture. In addition to burgeoning hitting skills, Matos is a plus defensive center fielder.

Justin Crawford, 19, OF, PHI (A)
202 PA, 0 HR, 32 SB, .346/.395/.456

I was surprised to recently discover Crawford had crept onto Baseball America’s Top 100 list. That’s not meant as a knock against Crawford. There happens to be a large number of high-quality prospects around the league. Crawford is more projection than actuality at this stage of his development.

The 17th pick of the 2022 draft, Crawford was seen as the sort of toolsy, incomplete prospect the Phillies have historically loved – and struggled to develop. He’s performing decently in Low-A where his first-rate speed is on display. A .423 BABIP has allowed him to get away with too many swinging strikes for his current low-power profile. He’s expected to age into roughly average pop, so this problem could go away in a couple ways. Comparisons to his father, Carl Crawford, come naturally as they share quite a few traits. He’s reportedly comfortable making adjustments to his hitting mechanics which further increases the volatility of his prospectdom.

Carson Whisenhunt, 22, SP, SFG (AA)
(A/A+/AA) 49.2 IP, 12.9 K/9, 3.1 BB/9, 2.90 ERA

Whisenhunt would rank higher among evaluators if not for off-field issues. As it is, he’s still in consideration for the back-end of Top 100 lists. The simplest issue to comment on publicly is his failed PED test in college. You’ll notice, it’s rare for college players to be caught for PEDs, and it’s not because they’re squeaky clean. For his part, Whisenhunt blames a tainted supplement. The skinny southpaw leads with a double-plus changeup and is only just reaching a level where hitters will have some capacity to cope with the pitch. His changeup is such that he won’t truly be tested until he reaches the Majors. The profile and build are reminiscent of Cole Hamels.

Roman Anthony, 19, OF, BOS (A+)
(A/A+) 251 PA, 5 HR, 12 SB, .236/.379/.382

Anyone statistically minded is going to like Anthony. A 19-year-old performing well in High-A is exciting stuff, particularly when said 19-year-old has a 171 wRC+ in 49 plate appearances. He was considerably more ordinary in Low-A, posting a 110 wRC+ in 202 plate appearances. A sweet-swinging lefty slugger, Anthony has considerable development ahead of him if he’s to continue this speedy race toward the Majors. The P-word gets thrown around. Against better competition, Anthony will find himself behind in the count all too often. Passivity isn’t a death knell. We saw Gunnar Henderson defeat it entering last season and again about a month ago. It’s a trait which has a way of echoing. But for the passivity, Anthony has all the traits of a starting corner outfielder.

FanGraphs gives Anthony a four-paragraph writeup that says more than I can in this space.

Three More

Edouard Julien, MIN (24): The star of the 2022 AFL, Julien is on the verge of losing his prospect “eligibility.” He’s batting .252/.336/.439 through 123 plate appearances. A 34.1 percent strikeout rate has held him back. He also has a 12.5 percent swinging strike rate – nearly double that of his Triple-A performance. Defensively limited, Julien appears in need of an adjustment or two. He has the tools to pull it off.

Jacob Misiorowski, MIL (21): It’s good to be unique as a pitcher. Misiorowski certainly checks the “unique” box. The 6’7’’ right-hander has the sort of funky arm action that makes it hard to identify balls and strikes. Misiorowski lacks a changeup, but we’ve seen plenty of starters succeed without one in recent years, especially those who can live up in the zone with hard heat. He currently has poor command.

Quinn Priester, PIT (22): Priester has been on the radar for a while, bouncing in and out of the Top 100 prospects. He’s a ground ball pitcher who manages around a strikeout per inning while limiting walks and piling up ground balls. Since his fastball isn’t particularly effective, he should be viewed as a potential back-of-the-rotation guy – the type who keeps his team in the game.

Did I miss a detail or nuance? DM me on Twitter @BaseballATeam to suggest corrections.

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top