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White Sox Release Billy Hamilton

By Steve Adams | August 23, 2023 at 11:47am CDT

The White Sox have released veteran outfielder Billy Hamilton, as indicated on the transaction log at MiLB.com. He’s now a free agent.

Hamilton hasn’t played since July, spending the past several weeks on the injured list. The Sox never made an announcement on the status of his injury, though a source tells MLBTR that Hamilton was shelved due to discomfort in his right shoulder and cleared to resume playing this past Sunday. However, the Sox are opting to move on rather than bringing him back to the roster in Triple-A Charlotte or in the big leagues.

Parting ways with Hamilton now ought to give him time to latch on with a postseason hopeful that could look to use him as a defensive replacement and/or pinch-runner late in games. It’s common for playoff contenders to carry specialists of that nature, particularly in September, when rosters expand from 26 to 28 players. At the very least, he’d make a sensible depth option to carry in the upper minors, in the event of any injuries on the big league roster.

The 32-year-old Hamilton is, of course, one of the game’s fastest players and most dynamic defenders. He’s never been a great hitter, but his bat has fallen off even further since his early-career days with Cincinnati: .205/.262/.288 in 549 MLB plate appearances since 2019. However, Hamilton boasts elite marks of 73 Defensive Runs Saved and 58 Outs Above Average in 6766 career innings in center field. He’s also been successful in 326 of his 398 career stolen base attempts — an 81.9% success rate. He’s become more efficient as his career has progressed, succeeding in 84.4% of his 58 attempts dating back to 2019 and 90% of his 30 attempts since 2020. Statcast pegged Hamilton in the 97th percentile of MLB hitters in terms of average sprint speed in 2021 and in the 91st percentile a year ago.

Hamilton has logged just 25 plate appearances over the past two seasons, collecting only one hit in that span. His most recent season with playing time of note saw him bat .220/.242/.378 in 135 plate appearances with the 2021 White Sox. He was hitting .147/.261/.253 in 89 trips to the plate with Triple-A Charlotte this season prior to his placement on the injured list and subsequent release.

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Chicago White Sox Transactions Billy Hamilton

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White Sox Designate Brent Honeywell For Assignment

By Steve Adams | August 23, 2023 at 10:45am CDT

The White Sox announced Wednesday that they’ve designated right-hander Brent Honeywell Jr. for assignment and optioned infielder Zach Remillard to Triple-A Charlotte. Their roster spots will go to righty Edgar Navarro and lefty Sammy Peralta, who’ve both been recalled from Charlotte.

Honeywell, 28, was claimed off waivers from the Padres on Aug. 5 after being designated for assignment in the aftermath of an active deadline in San Diego. He’s since appeared in four games with the Sox, tallying 5 2/3 innings but allowing seven runs on nine hits and three walks with three strikeouts. The former top prospect is out of minor league options, so the Sox opted to designate him for assignment rather than continue to hold out hope for better results.

Once regarded as one of baseball’s most promising minor leaguers, Honeywell has seen his career derailed by a staggering four elbow surgeries — all coming before he turned 28 years old. The former Rays second-rounder was eventually traded to the A’s, for whom he never pitched, before being non-tendered this past offseason. The Padres signed Honeywell to a big league deal in hopes of capitalizing on his once lofty prospect status.

To some extent, the move panned out. Honeywell pitched 46 2/3 innings for the Friars and logged a respectable, if unspectacular 4.05 ERA. That number came in spite of sub-par strikeout and walk rates of 20.6% and 9.8%, however, and Honeywell also served up an average of 1.54 homers per nine innings in San Diego. Fielding-independent metrics cast a less-favorable light on his performance (5.24 FIP, 4.35 SIERA). Things clearly haven’t gone any better in Chicago, and with the trade deadline behind us, Honeywell will be placed on outright waivers or release waivers in the near future.

Honeywell didn’t pitch at all from 2018-20, tossed 86 innings in 2021 and pitched just 20 1/3 innings during the 2022 season. Between the 28 innings he tossed in winter ball over the offseason and the 52 1/3 frames he’s thrown this year, he’s already well north of last year’s workload and approaching the volume he hit in 2021. Honeywell’s career-high innings pitched came back in 2017, when he tossed 136 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A in the Rays system.

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Chicago White Sox Transactions Brent Honeywell Edgar Navarro Sammy Peralta Zach Remillard

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Tigers Reinstate, Option Spencer Turnbull

By Steve Adams | August 23, 2023 at 10:41am CDT

The Tigers reinstated right-hander Spencer Turnbull from the 60-day injured list Wednesday but optioned him to Triple-A Toledo rather than add him to the active roster. He’d been out since early May with a neck injury.

Turnbull, 31 next month, tossed a no-hitter for the Tigers back in 2021 and looked to be in the midst of a breakout season before a torn ulnar collateral ligament necessitated Tommy John surgery. He missed the entire 2022 season while recovering and made just seven starts earlier this season before incurring the neck issue that’s sidelined him for more than three months. He wasn’t effective when on the mound earlier this year, pitching to a 7.26 ERA with diminished sinker velocity — 93.9 mph on average, compared to 95.1 mph pre-surgery —  in just 33 1/3 innings of work. Turnbull’s 16.6% strikeout rate, 10.3% walk rate and 48.5% grounder rate were all considerably worse than the marks he posted in nine starts prior to 2021’s elbow injury.

Things haven’t gone particularly well for the right-hander on his minor league rehab assignment in recent weeks. Since returning to a mound in late July, he’s logged a 6.75 ERA in 21 1/3 innings — albeit with more encouraging strikeout and walk rates of 24.1% and 7.3%, respectively. Still, Turnbull gave up at least two runs in five of his six minor league outings despite averaging less than 3 2/3 innings per appearance. He’ll try to get back on track in Toledo between now and season’s end.

The timing of the optional assignment is critical, as well. Turnbull is six days away from reaching five years of Major League service time — the point at which a player gains the right to refuse an optional assignment to the minor leagues. The Tigers could have conceivably given Turnbull one big league start to see how he fared before making a decision on whether to option him, but even making two starts in the Majors would’ve resulted in him gaining the ability to decline when the team tried to option him. That service time is also worth keeping an eye on for club control purposes; if Turnbull gains even six more days of MLB service this year, he’ll be eligible for free agency following the 2024 season. If he remains in Triple-A, he’d be controllable through the 2025 campaign.

Of course, that assumes Turnbull remains in the team’s plans. He’ll be owed a small raise on this year’s $1.8MM salary in arbitration over the winter, and given the manner in which the season has played out, it can’t be considered a lock that he’ll be tendered a contract. He’d be a low-cost risk for a team in need of pitching depth, so it’d be sensible enough to just commit the $2MM or so to see if he can return to form, but Turnbull was drafted and developed by the preceding front office regime. Time will tell how the new group feels it’s best to proceed.

From 2019-21, Turnbull made 50 starts for Detroit, pitching to a 4.13 ERA with a 21.9% strikeout rate, 9.1% walk rate, 50.3% ground-ball rate and 0.64 HR/9 in 255 frames. He looked to be taking his game to new heights in 2021, pitching 50 innings with a 2.88 ERA, 21.9% strikeout rate, 6% walk rate and 57.2% grounder rate prior to his injury. With Turnbull in Toledo for the time being, the Tigers will rely on Eduardo Rodriguez, Tarik Skubal, Matt Manning, Reese Olson and Alex Faedo in the starting rotation.

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Detroit Tigers Transactions Spencer Turnbull

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Mets To Select Sean Reid-Foley

By Steve Adams | August 23, 2023 at 10:18am CDT

Right-hander Sean Reid-Foley is on his way to join the Mets from Triple-A Syracuse, as first reported by Mike Mayer of Metsmerized. He’s not on the 40-man roster, so New York will need to open a spot on the 40-man roster to formally select his contract.

The 27-year-old Reid-Foley is 15 months removed from last year’s Tommy John surgery and has pitched 22 innings of 4.09 ERA ball across three minor league levels as he’s worked back into game shape. That includes a less palatable 4.96 ERA in 16 1/3 Triple-A frames, though the former top prospect has a 3.95 ERA and 42.5% strikeout rate over his past 14 Triple-A appearances (23 strikeouts, 54 batters faced).

Reid-Foley has pitched in parts of five big league seasons, all of them coming with either the Blue Jays or the Mets. In 102 1/3 innings at the MLB level, the former second-round pick (2017) has posted a 4.66 ERA with a solid 23.6% strikeout rate but a bloated 13.7% walk rate. He’s split his time relatively evenly between the bullpen and the rotation, carrying very similar marks in ERA, strikeout rate, walk rate, ground-ball rate and home run rate, regardless of role. Like most pitchers, he’s thrown harder out of the bullpen; last year’s career-high 96 mph average on his fastball in relief was 2.4 mph north of the 93.6 mph he averaged in 2017-18 when working primarily as a starter.

The Mets’ bullpen has been a revolving door since the trade deadline. While veterans Adam Ottavino, Brooks Raley, Drew Smith and Trevor Gott have been constants, but they’ve used a stunning 17 relievers since the trade deadline. The Mets have cycled through journeymen such as Jimmy Yacabonis, Dennis Santana, Tyson Miller, Vinny Nittoli and Adam Kolarek (among others) while trying to patch things together on a thinned out pitching staff. Reid-Foley will become the latest entrant into that relief corps carousel. He’s out of minor league options, so he’ll have to either stick in the bullpen or else quickly be designated for assignment to make way for the next arm.

The Mets haven’t had a starter complete five innings since Kodai Senga tossed seven frames on Saturday. Their bullpen has covered 11 2/3 innings in the past three games alone, so it’s not exactly a surprise to see them bringing in a fresh arm.

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New York Mets Transactions Sean Reid-Foley

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Giants To Sign Paul DeJong To Major League Contract

By Darragh McDonald | August 22, 2023 at 11:55pm CDT

The Giants are signing shortstop Paul DeJong to a major league contract, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today. The shortstop was recently designated for assignment by the Blue Jays and his transactions tracker at MLB.com indicates he was released yesterday.

DeJong’s career has been on a downward slope in recent years, with his offensive production declining in each season since his 2017 rookie year. He hit .285/.325/.532 in his first campaign for a wRC+ of 123, indicating he was 23% above league average. The Cards then gave him a six-year, $26MM extension but watched him struggle more and more as time went on. His wRC+ dropped to 103 in 2018, then 101, 87, and 85 in the years after. In 2022, he spent a couple of months on optional assignment and only hit .157/.245/.286 in the majors for a wRC+ of just 55.

He seemed to have turned things around somewhat this year, having hit .233/.297/.412 through 81 games with the Cards. He was striking out in 28.4% of his plate appearances but had popped 13 home runs in that time. His 95 wRC+ indicated he was still a tad below average at the plate overall, but for a shortstop who’s considered an above-average defender, that was a serviceable showing.

With the Cardinals out of contention this year and DeJong in the final guaranteed year of that extension, he was a sensible trade candidate. The Jays found themselves with a sudden need at short just before the deadline when Bo Bichette landed on the IL with a knee injury. They sent minor league pitcher Matt Svanson to the Cards in order to get DeJong as an emergency fill-in for Bichette.

Unfortunately, switching the red bird on his jersey for a blue one coincided with an incredible swoon in his performance. He recorded just three hits in 44 plate appearances for the Jays, all singles, while striking out 18 times and not drawing any walks. When Bichette was reinstated from the injured list, the Jays could have optioned a less-experienced player like Santiago Espinal or Davis Schneider but instead decided to just move on from DeJong.

At the time of the trade, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the Cardinals are covering half of DeJong’s remaining salary and the buyouts on two club options. DeJong’s salary is $9MM this year, which left about $3MM to be paid out at the time of the trade and $2MM now. After being released, any club could sign him and pay him just the prorated league minimum, with that amount subtracted from what the other clubs pay.

It seems like the Giants will take that chance on another DeJong bounceback, which is a fairly logical move for them. Their regular shortstop, Brandon Crawford, just landed on the injured list over the weekend due to a left forearm strain. Thairo Estrada is also day-to-day after being hit by a pitch on the hand on Sunday. That leaves veteran utility man Johan Camargo and rookie Casey Schmitt as their healthiest middle infield options at the moment. Camargo has hit .220/.273/.345 since the start of 2019 while Schmitt is hitting .197/.249/.279 through his first 226 plate appearances.

Though DeJong may be inconsistent at the plate, it’s a sensible chance for the Giants to take. If he’s able to get back into decent form, he could certainly be an upgrade over their current options. By getting added to the roster prior to 11:59pm ET on August 31, DeJong will be eligible for the postseason roster as well. The Giants are currently 65-60 and in possession of the final Wild Card spot in the National League.

The club currently has a full 40-man roster and will need to make a corresponding move to add DeJong whenever this move becomes official. They will also need a spot for pitching prospect Kyle Harrison, who is reportedly going to be added and start tonight’s game, meaning some further roster moves are coming for the Giants.

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Newsstand San Francisco Giants Transactions Paul DeJong

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Dennis Santana Elects Free Agency

By Anthony Franco | August 22, 2023 at 8:08pm CDT

Reliever Dennis Santana has elected minor league free agency, the Mets informed reporters (including Tim Britton of the Athletic). New York had designated the righty for assignment over the weekend and he has evidently gone unclaimed on waivers.

Santana has been with the Mets since they grabbed him off waivers in mid-March. They’ve designated him for assignment on three separate occasions, running him through waivers each time. The 27-year-old accepted his first two outright stints but decided to seek out other opportunities this time around.

This is Santana’s sixth season logging some major league action. He pitched in nine games for the Mets, allowing seven runs in 10 1/3 innings. He fanned 12 but issued seven walks in that limited look. Santana showed a similar profile over 33 frames with Triple-A Syracuse. He pitched to a 4.91 ERA with a solid 27% strikeout percentage and a lofty 13.2% walk rate.

Consistently throwing strikes has been Santana’s biggest concern throughout his career. In 149 2/3 MLB innings, he’s walked 12% of batters faced. He throws in the mid-90s and has gotten swinging strikes on a decent 11.5% of his offerings but has dished out a few too many free passes, leading to a career 5.17 ERA.

Santana is playing this season on a $1MM arbitration salary. That makes it a bit surprising he declined the outright assignment. As a player with less than five years of major league service, Santana forfeits the roughly $220K in guaranteed salary he was due through season’s end in order to test the market. Perhaps he’ll look for a landing spot with a club in playoff contention over the next 10 days. If Santana signs elsewhere by end of day on August 31 — even on a minor league pact — he’d be eligible for postseason play with a new organization.

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New York Mets Transactions Dennis Santana

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Angels Activate Mike Trout From Injured List

By Darragh McDonald | August 22, 2023 at 5:15pm CDT

The Angels are activating outfielder Mike Trout from the injured list, reports Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. Trout tells Sam Blum of The Athletic that he’s still sore but felt time was running out as the end of the season draws closer. The Angels have now officially announced the move, with outfielder Jordyn Adams optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake in a corresponding move.

Trout, 32, had his season interrupted in early July by a left hamate fracture that required surgery to correct. At that time, the estimated timeline for his absence was given as four to eight weeks. He now returns in the midst of that window but, as mentioned, he’s not yet at 100% health.

Despite losing Trout, the Angels ended up treading water in July, going 12-11 and staying in the playoff race. That was enough to convince the club to not only take Shohei Ohtani off the trade market but also make aggressive upgrades, acquiring players like Lucas Giolito, C.J. Cron, Randal Grichuk and others, as well as promoting Nolan Schanuel just a few weeks after drafting him. Unfortunately, August has been a nightmare for the club, as they have gone 5-13 and are now nine games out of a playoff spot.

As Trout himself acknowledged, time is running short for the Angels to take advantage of the Trout-Ohtani combo, with the latter set to reach free agency in a couple of months. The playoff odds at FanGraphs give them just a 0.5% chance of making the postseason and that narrowing window seems to have spurred Trout to return quicker than he might have otherwise done. Despite having two of the best players in the world on the same team, the Angels haven’t finished above .500 since 2015 and haven’t made it to the playoffs since 2014.

The club will be hoping that the return of Trout to the lineup can spur a miraculous late-season charge in the final few weeks. Prior to the surgery, he was hitting .263/.369/.493 for a wRC+ of 136. That indicates he was 36% above the league average hitter but that’s actually a significant drop-off relative to his own standards. He hasn’t had a wRC+ lower than 160 since his 40-game debut as a teenager in 2011. Though even if he can get back to that lesser level of production, he will provide a massive boost to the club for the stretch run.

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Los Angeles Angels Newsstand Transactions Jordyn Adams Mike Trout

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Reds Select Nick Martini, Designate Henry Ramos For Assignment

By Darragh McDonald | August 22, 2023 at 4:55pm CDT

The Reds announced a series of roster moves today involving four outfielders. Michael Siani was recalled from Triple-A Louisville and Nick Martini was selected to the roster while Stuart Fairchild was placed on the seven-day concussion list, retroactive to Monday, and Henry Ramos was designated for assignment.

Martini, 33, returns to the big leagues for the first time since 2021. He spent last year with the NC Dinos of the Korea Baseball Organization, hitting .296/.365/.461 over 139 games. He parlayed that into a return to affiliated ball, signing a minor league deal with the Reds in the offseason. He’s spent all of this year in Triple-A so far, hitting 15 home runs in 93 games while drawing walks in 14.4% of his plate appearances. His .275/.393/.481 line at that level amounts to a wRC+ of 121, indicating he’s been 21% above league average.

He’ll now get another chance to bring that production up to the majors, something that has generally eluded him in his career. His 2,186 Triple-A plate appearances have resulted in a strong line of .294/.398/.445 but his major league batting line is just .270/.369/.369, with most of his major league success coming with the A’s back in 2018.

He’s mostly been playing the outfield corners for Louisville this year, though has also spent some time at first base and had a brief look in center. The Reds have been using an outfield of Will Benson, TJ Friedl and Spencer Steer of late. Martini and Siani will replace Fairchild and Ramos as depth options, alongside TJ Hopkins.

As for Ramos, 31, he has been on and off the Reds’ roster this year. Signed to a minor league deal in the winter, he has twice had his contract selected and has now twice been designated for assignment. He’s taken 86 trips to the plate and has slashed .243/.349/.311 in those. His 54 Triple-A games have resulted in a much stronger .315/.399/.522 line. The last time he was DFA’d, he cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment, which is a process that could play out again in the coming days.

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Cincinnati Reds Transactions Henry Ramos Michael Siani Nick Martini Stuart Fairchild

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Mariners Sign Luke Weaver To Major League Deal, Transfer Emerson Hancock To 60-Day IL

By Darragh McDonald | August 22, 2023 at 4:40pm CDT

The Mariners announced a series of roster moves today, reinstating right-hander Bryan Woo from the injured list and signing righty Luke Weaver to a major league deal. To open two active roster spots, they optioned righties Eduard Bazardo and Darren McCaughan. To open a 40-man spot for Weaver, righty Emerson Hancock has been transferred to the 60-day injured list.

It’s a belated birthday present for Weaver, who just turned 30 years old yesterday. He was recently released by the Reds, who had signed him to a one-year, $2MM deal in the offseason. Unfortunately, his 21 starts for Cincinnati resulted in him allowing 6.87 earned runs per nine innings. His 7.6% walk rate was solid but he only struck out 19% of batters faced. Home runs were a particular problem as he allowed 24 balls to sail over the fence in that time, easily a career high for him.

The Mariners were planning to utilize a six-man rotation when Woo returned from the injured list, joining Hancock, Luis Castillo, George Kirby, Logan Gilbert and Bryce Miller, but Hancock’s injury threw a wrench in those plans. He landed on the injured list yesterday due to a shoulder strain and it seems the club isn’t expecting him back soon. Today’s transfer makes him officially ineligible to return until the middle of October. His season is now effectively over unless the club goes on a World Series run and he gets healthy enough in the next two months to put himself in position to rejoin the roster. Daniel Kramer of MLB.com reports that his recovery will take at least four to six weeks.

The club could simply go with a five-man rotation, though there are reasons why they might still prefer six. Both Miller and Woo are rookies who are pushing towards uncharted territory in terms of innings pitched in a season. Last year was Miller’s first full professional season and he was able to toss 133 2/3 frames. This year, between the majors and minors, he’s up to 117 1/3 already. Woo, meanwhile, tossed 67 2/3 last year and is already up to 99 innings this year between Double-A and the majors. Kirby was a rookie last year and logged 130 major league innings plus another 26 2/3 in the minors, and is at 150 2/3 this year.

Going with a six-man rotation would soften some of the workload concerns and the potential for fatigue down the stretch. Perhaps that is why they have brought Weaver aboard. Though his results haven’t been good this year, a change of venue would likely help him to some degree. Looking at Statcast’s park factors, the Mariners have one of the more pitching-friendly home parks while the Reds are on the other end of the spectrum, especially when it comes to home runs.

It’s also possible that the Mariners are planning to implement Weaver out of the bullpen, a role in which he’s showed some encouraging signs in the past. With the Diamondbacks and Royals last year, he had an ERA of 6.56 overall, but that included one start in which he allowed nine earned runs. As a reliever, he had a 4.78 ERA and may have deserved even better. He had a 21.7% strikeout rate, 7.9% walk rate, 40.4% ground ball rate and didn’t surrender a home run at all. But a .404 batting average on balls in play and 64.9% strand rate pushed some extra runs across the plate, with his 2.46 FIP suggesting he was perhaps better than his ERA would indicate.

Regardless of his role, it’s a low-risk move for the M’s financially. Since the Reds released Weaver, they remain on the hook for what’s left of his $2MM salary, while the Mariners will only have to pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster. That amount will be subtracted from what the Reds pay.

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Newsstand Seattle Mariners Transactions Bryan Woo Darren McCaughan Eduard Bazardo Emerson Hancock Luke Weaver

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Giants Promote Kyle Harrison

By Mark Polishuk | August 22, 2023 at 3:35pm CDT

August 22: The Giants have now made this official, selecting Harrison and reinstating righty Ryan Walker from the paternity list. To open active roster spots, right-hander Sean Hjelle and outfielder Heliot Ramos were optioned. To open a 40-man spot for Harrison, infielder Mark Mathias was transferred to the 60-day injured list. Mathias was placed on the injured list a week ago due to a right shoulder strain. He’ll now be ineligible to return until 60 days from August 14, which rules him out until the middle of October. Barring a lengthy postseason run by the Giants, it seems his season is over.

August 20, 3:58 pm: Giants manager Gabe Kapler confirmed to reporters, including Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle, that Harrison was poised to be promoted. He’ll start the Giants’ game against the Phillies in Philadelphia on Tuesday.

10:14 am: The Giants are calling up top pitching prospect Kyle Harrison, FanSided’s Robert Murray reports (via X).  Earlier today, the Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly wrote that San Francisco was “strongly considering” promoting Harrison during an upcoming series with the Phillies, and Murray says that Harrison is being aimed to start Tuesday’s game.  San Francisco will need to make another transaction before then to create a 40-man roster spot for the left-hander.

The promotion makes for a nice late birthday gift for Harrison, who turned 22 on August 12.  It is quite possible that the southpaw would have already made his MLB debut if it wasn’t for a hamstring strain that put him on the injured list for almost all of July, but after pitching in three Triple-A games since his return from the minor league IL, Harrison has been deemed ready for his first taste of the Show.

It doesn’t seem as though Harrison will be taking on a full-fledged starter role, as Baggarly notes that Harrison might work in more of a piggyback capacity on Tuesday, perhaps not throwing more than 3-4 innings.  Harrison has had a limited workload for much of the minor league season, as he has topped the 80-pitch threshold only three times and has only once thrown as many as five innings in a single outing.

With this in mind, Harrison looks to become the latest member of a patchwork Giants rotation that has recently featured only two regular starters.  Beyond Logan Webb and Alex Cobb, a group led by Jakob Junis, Alex Wood, Sean Manaea, and Ross Stripling have made limited starts, piggyback outings, or have worked as bulk pitchers behind an opener.  This collection took a hit yesterday when Stripling was placed on the 15-day IL due to a back strain, and Sean Hjelle was recalled from Triple-A to work as a long reliever or bulk pitcher.

It’s not an ideal situation for a team fighting for a wild card berth, so there will be a bit of a bigger spotlight than usual on Harrison as he becomes a big leaguer.  However, Harrison has dealt with plenty of hype as his prospect stock has risen over the last few years, since being selected by the Giants in the third round of the 2020 draft.  In recent midseason updates to their prospect rankings, MLB Pipeline listed Harrison as the 20th-best prospect in the sport, while Baseball America slotted him 35th on their latest listing.

There’s no secret about Harrison’s biggest weak point, as he has a hefty 16.3% walk rate over 67 2/3 innings with Triple-A Sacramento this year.  This shaky control (and pitching in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League) has contributed to Harrison’s 4.52 ERA, though he also has a tremendous 35.6% strikeout rate.

Both Pipeline and BA give Harrison a 70-grade for his fastball and a 60-grade for his slider, and he also has a good changeup that is still improving.  Two plus pitches and the possibility of a third has created plenty of buzz about Harrison as a possible front-of-the-rotation starter, though the big question is naturally whether or not Harrison can improve his control and command.  As Pipeline’s scouting report puts it, Harrison is “still learning to harness his enhanced stuff, though his ability to miss bats in the strike zone with all three of his offerings means that he doesn’t need to locate them with precision.”

However the Giants opt to manage Harrison’s workload among the rest of the pitchers, it seems likely that the club will limit him to less than 50 innings in the regular season, so he can retain his rookie eligibility for 2024.  As per the rules of the Prospect Promotion Incentive, the Giants can receive a bonus pick in the 2025 draft if Harrison earns a full year of MLB service time in 2024, and he either wins the NL Rookie of the Year award or has a top-three finish in NL Cy Young voting during any of his pre-arbitration seasons.  Harrison must be ranked as a top-100 prospect by at least two of MLB Pipeline, Baseball America, or ESPN.com in their pre-2024 lists to fully qualify as a PPI-eligible player, thought that seems like a foregone conclusion.

Beyond the 50-inning threshold, pitchers also have to have less than 46 days on a Major League roster to retain rookie eligibility.  That date on the 2023 league calendar passed last week, so it isn’t surprising that Harrison and other notable prospects like the Reds’ Noelvi Marte, the Cardinals’ Masyn Winn, and the Angels’ Nolan Schanuel have all been called up within the last few days alone.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

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Newsstand San Francisco Giants Top Prospect Promotions Transactions Heliot Ramos Kyle Harrison Mark Mathias Ryan Walker Sean Hjelle

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