Raymond Burgos

The Giants passed first baseman Trenton Brooks and lefty Raymond Burgos through waivers unclaimed, Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets. Both were designated for assignment over the weekend, and both have now been assigned outright to Triple-A Sacramento.

Brooks, acquired last August in the trade sending Sean Newcomb across the bay to Oakland, made his MLB debut as a 28-year-old rookie this season. He went 3-for-25 (all singles), punched out six times and drew four walks.

That debut hardly turned many heads, but Brooks has clobbered Triple-A pitching this season and walked more often than he’s struck out in the process. Through 177 plate appearances, he’s hitting .308/.426/.462 with a 17.5% walk rate against a 15.3% strikeout rate. He’s homered four times and swiped six bases. This is Brooks’ fourth season of action at the Triple-A level, and he’s a career .277/.377/.471 hitter in 1365 trips to the plate there. That solid track record wasn’t enough to convince another club to claim him, so he’ll remain with the River Cats and give the Giants a depth option in the event that they need a left-handed bat or some help at first base and/or in the outfield corners.

Burgos, 25, also made his big league debut with the Giants recently. It lasted just one inning, and Burgos yielded a run on three hits and a walk with one punchout in that brief debut showing. The former Cleveland farmhand signed a minor league deal with San Francisco two offseasons ago and did so again earlier this year after very briefly pitching in Mexico. While he had lackluster results in Triple-A last year, Burgos has been excellent in Sacramento this time around. In 22 innings, Burgos boasts a 1.64 earned run average with a 27.4% strikeout rate against a comically low 2.4% walk rate.

As with Brooks, Burgos will remain in the organization as a depth option in Sacramento. Taylor Rogers and Erik Miller are the only healthy left-handers on the Giants’ 40-man roster at the moment, so Burgos could quickly find himself back in the mix for a big league role if anything happens to either southpaw.

The Giants announced that they have selected the contract of left-hander Raymond Burgos. To open spots on both the active and 40-man rosters, first baseman Trenton Brooks has been designated for assignment.

Brooks, 28, was selected to the roster just under a month ago. He had spent close to a decade in the minors and had generally hit well over the years, including producing a .308/.426/.462 line in Triple-A prior to his call-up this year.

Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to bring any of that production up to the majors with him. He has only received 29 plate appearances since getting added to the roster May 28, hitting .120/.241/.120 in that time. His 13.8% walk rate and 20.7% strikeout rate are both solid but he didn’t hit the ball with much authority, leading to a .158 batting average on balls in play and no extra base hits. That performance got him bumped off the roster and the Giants will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers.

Taking his roster spot is Burgos, a 25-year-old left-hander. Originally drafted by Cleveland, he never cracked the big leagues with that team and hit free agency after 2022, which led to minor league deals with the Giants in each of the past two offseasons.

He has thrown 22 Triple-A innings over nine appearances this year, only allowing 1.64 earned runs per nine frames. He won’t be able to sustain a 100% strand rate nor a .245 BABIP, but his 27.4% strikeout rate, 2.4% walk rate and 53.6% ground ball rate are all strong. He’ll give the Giants a multi-inning option out of the bullpen as they try to cobble a pitching staff together. With each of Blake Snell, Kyle Harrison, Keaton Winn, Robbie Ray, Alex Cobb and Tristan Beck on the injured list, the rotation is down to Logan Webb and Jordan Hicks at the moment.