The Giants announced this afternoon they’re selecting the contract of reliever Jay Jackson. To create space on the 40-man roster, San Francisco transferred third baseman Evan Longoria from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list. To create active roster space, infielder Jason Vosler was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento.
Additionally, staff ace Kevin Gausman has been placed on the family medical emergency list. Righty Logan Webb was recalled to start tonight’s game against the Cardinals in his place.
Jackson returns to the majors for the first time since 2019. That year, he made 28 appearances out of the Brewers bullpen. Across 30 1/3 innings, the hard-throwing righty pitched to a 4.45 ERA/3.57 SIERA. Jackson showed legitimate swing-and-miss stuff, racking up whiffs on 17.7% of his offerings and striking out hitters at a fantastic 35.6% clip. He also had some obvious control issues, though, walking 13.6% of batters faced that season.
The 33-year-old spent part of the 2020 campaign with the Chiba Lotte Mariners of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball before returning to the U.S. last summer. He signed a minors deal with San Francisco in January and has earned his way back to the big leagues with a fantastic start to the season in Sacramento. Jackson has made eight appearances with the River Cats and tossed eleven scoreless innings, punching out a whopping 48.6% of opponents against a minuscule 2.7% walk rate.
Longoria landed on the IL on June 6 with a left shoulder sprain. He’s now ineligible to come back until 60 days have passed since that original placement — not today’s transfer date — so he can return during the first week of August. It seems there’s some chance he’ll do so, as manager Gabe Kapler told reporters (including Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle) that Longoria’s doing well in his recovery. It has been an incredible bounceback season for the 35-year-old, who is hitting .280/.376/.516 over 186 plate appearances.
