Giants Notes: Roupp, McDonald, Crawford
Last month, Giants starter Landen Roupp suffered what appeared to be a season-ending bone bruise in his left knee. San Francisco never officially moved the right-hander to the 60-day injured list. They now find themselves in a playoff race thanks to the Mets’ recent eight-game losing streak, which leaves the door ajar for Roupp to make it back this year.
Roupp has thrown a couple bullpen sessions in recent days. Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle noted over the weekend that there’s a possibility for the second-year pitcher to come back in October if the Giants snag a playoff berth. That’d probably be in relief, as he hasn’t thrown in a game setting since August 20.
The Giants lost Carson Whisenhunt to a back strain a week after Roupp’s injury. That has left them without great options for the final two rotation spots behind Logan Webb, Justin Verlander and Robbie Ray. Righty Kai-Wei Teng hasn’t worked deep into games and carries a 6.41 ERA across seven appearances.
They’re operating without a fifth starter, which resulted in Tristan Beck kicking off a bullpen game tonight for a big matchup in Arizona. The Giants dropped half a game behind the Diamondbacks with last night’s loss in the series opener. They’re 2.5 games back of the Mets, who beat the Padres earlier this evening, pending the result of tonight’s game.
San Francisco made a move before tonight’s game, recalling righty Trevor McDonald from Triple-A Sacramento. Keaton Winn, who pitched two innings in relief of Teng yesterday, was optioned out. The 24-year-old McDonald gave up two runs in as many innings in his first MLB appearance of the season.
McDonald has occupied a spot on San Francisco’s 40-man roster since the 2023-24 offseason. The former 11th round pick had one day of major league service before tonight. The Giants called him up for the final game of the ’24 season, in which he tossed three scoreless innings. He had spent all of this season working from the rotation in Sacramento. McDonald had a decent 23% strikeout rate and got ground-balls at a 53% clip, but he struggled to a 5.31 ERA across 142 1/3 innings in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.
There’s a less fortunate update on another of the organization’s pitching prospects. Former first-round pick Reggie Crawford underwent another shoulder surgery and will be out into the middle of next season, reports Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. Crawford underwent his first labrum repair last September. The UCONN product was already out for the season but had recently begun throwing bullpen sessions.
Crawford, the #30 overall pick in 2022, has thrown 37 1/3 career innings in the minor leagues. He will be eligible for the Rule 5 draft this offseason if the Giants don’t add him to the 40-man roster. Another team could theoretically eye him as a Rule 5 target whom they could stash on the MLB injured list until he completes his rehab. That makes the 40-man decision an interesting one for San Francisco’s front office. Crawford has shown a triple-digit fastball and a plus or better breaking ball at his best, but he has very little pitching experience. He was primarily a first baseman in college and only threw eight innings for the Huskies. He underwent Tommy John surgery as a junior in addition to his pair of shoulder procedures.
Giants Add Three Players To 40-Man Roster
The Giants announced that they have selected right-handers Trevor McDonald and Kai-Wei Teng as well as lefty Erik Miller to their 40-man roster. Today is the deadline for adding players in order to protect them from being selected in the Rule 5 draft.
Miller, 26 in February, was a fourth-round pick of the Phillies in 2019 but he came over to the Giants in a January trade for Yunior Marté. Due to injuries and the pandemic, he had only logged 97 innings prior to that trade. In 2023, he was able to throw 62 1/3 frames, split between Double-A and Triple-A, with a 2.45 earned run average in that time. His 17.4% walk rate is eye-popping, but he also punched out 34.1% of batters faced.
Teng, 25 next month, was an international signing out of Taiwan by the Twins but came to the Giants in the 2019 Sam Dyson trade. He has worked his way up the minor league ladder, getting strikeouts and ground balls but also giving out his share of walks. In 2023, he split his time between Double-A and Triple-A, tossing 126 1/3 innings over 27 appearances, 26 starts. He had a 4.42 ERA while striking out 29.8% of opponents and keeping over 40% of balls in play on the ground, but he also walked 12.4% of hitters who stepped to the plate.
McDonald, 23 in February, is the only one of this trio that wasn’t acquired by trade, as the Giants nabbed him in the 11th round of the 2019 draft. In 2023, he was limited by injuries to just 14 appearances, 13 starts. But he posted a tiny 1.33 ERA in his 47 1/3 innings, striking out 28% of hitters while walking 6%. He’s yet to reach the Double-A but the Giants still like him enough to give him a roster spot now to keep him out of the Rule 5.
Baseball America currently lists Miller as the Giants’ #25 prospect, though neither of Teng or McDonald are on the list at the moment. The three of them will give the club some optionable pitching depth going forward and will be trying to crack the majors as soon as they can.