The Giants announced a flurry of roster moves Friday, headlined by their selection of catcher Patrick Bailey’s contract from Triple-A Sacramento. San Francisco also selected the contract of righty Ryan Walker, designated outfielder Cal Stevenson for assignment and placed both catcher Joey Bart (groin strain) and right-hander Ross Stripling (back strain) on the 10-day and 15-day injured lists. Stevenson’s DFA opens one 40-man roster spot for Bailey, and a second was opened by recalling outfielder Heliot Ramos from Sacramento and placing him on the Major League 60-day injured list with a strained right oblique.
Bailey, 23, was the Giants’ top pick in the 2020 draft, coming off the board with the No. 13 overall selection. He had a decent debut campaign in their system a year later, batting a combined .265/.366/.429 across the Giants’ Rookie-ball, Low-A and High-A affiliates. He struggled at the final of those three stops (.185/.290/.296), but Bailey returned to High-A in 2022 and posted an improved .225/.342/.419 output. It still wasn’t a great showing, but the Giants moved him up to Double-A in 2023 anyhow, and he responded with a .333/.400/.481 slash in 14 games before being promoted again to Triple-A.
Bailey’s bat has again struggled following that quick promotion, but he’ll be aggressively promoted even further now that Bart is sidelined with an injury. Baseball America ranked him 27th among Giants farmhands heading into the season, lauding his defensive aptitude — specifically his receiving and blocking skills (though he also sports a strong 31% caught-stealing rate in the minors). The switch-hitting Bailey has struggled mightily from the right side of the dish in pro ball, hitting below .200 with just two of his 25 career home runs coming from that side of the dish.
Walker, 27, was the Giants’ 31st-rounder back in 2018. He’s never ranked among the organization’s top prospects but has steadily posted above-average numbers throughout his minor league tenure. He opened the 2023 season in Sacramento — his second Triple-A stint — and has come roaring out of the gates with 20 1/3 innings of 0.89 ERA ball. He’s punched out 31.1% of his opponents this season, has induced grounders at a 50% clip and has yet to surrender a home run. His 10.8% walk rate is higher than the Giants would like to see, but command hasn’t been a recurring issue, as evidenced by a career 7.7% walk rate in parts of five pro seasons.
The Giants acquired the 26-year-old Stevenson from the A’s in exchange for cash earlier this year and called him up to the big leagues when Mike Yastrzemski hit the injured list. He’s gone hitless in 12 plate appearances and is now a .145/.259/.188 hitter in a still-small sample of 83 Major League plate appearances. Stevenson’s track record in Triple-A is far, far better. He’s appeared in 101 games at the top minor league level and turned in a .271/.382/.386 line with seven homers while going 21-for-26 in stolen bases and walking nearly as often as he’s punched out (15% vs. 18.2%). He’s primarily been a center fielder but has experience in both corners. The Giants have a week to trade him or attempt to pass him through outright waivers.
As for the slate of injuries announced by San Francisco, none had been heavily foreshadowed. Bart suited up behind the plate for the Giants’ most recent game — his eighth start at catcher in nine games — and went 1-for-3. He’s hitting just .237/.286/.295 on the season and has yet to solidify himself as the franchise catcher the organization envisioned when selecting him with the No. 2 overall pick back in 2018. Bailey’s ascension to the big leagues could put extra pressure on Bart, who’s in his final minor league option year in 2023.
Stripling signed a two-year, $25MM deal over the winter — one that allows him to opt back into free agency at season’s end. His early performance with the Giants makes that overwhelmingly unlikely. In 32 1/3 frames, the right-hander has been torched for a 7.24 ERA, thanks largely to a stunning 10 home runs surrendered in that time. Stripling excelled with the Blue Jays in 2022, pitching to a 3.01 ERA across 134 1/3 frames and allowing just 12 home runs in that time. It’s not clear at this time whether his back has been troubling him throughout the season, though that would certainly explain some of the right-hander’s astronomical downturn.
Ramos, meanwhile, had gone on the minor league injured list a bit more than a week ago, though there’d been no indication he was looking at an absence of this length. The former first-round pick (No. 19 overall in 2017) has struggled badly in 18 big league games dating back to last season, slashing just .152/.205/.196 in 49 trips to the plate. He hasn’t yet found his stride in Triple-A either, batting a combined .244/.313/.367 in a very hitter-friendly setting. He’s been a bit better so far in 2023, batting .262/.333/.385 in 75 plate appearances there, but his generally lackluster minor league performance has begun to obfuscate his long-term role with the club.
Ivy League, analytics “guru” Farhan Zaid, proves that with the right connections, anyone can get a job running a Major League team.
Yet it doesn’t take an Ivy League education to spell the guy’s last name correctly.
You clearly prove that.
Wow, mlbfan, you’re an idiot.
Yeah they only won 107 games two years ago with mix and match spare parts. He’s definitely doing something wrong…
Or… he’s actually good at what he does.
Even a blind squirrel fins a nut once in a while. That season was a huge outlier from the rest of his body of work with the Giants.
How so? The team has improved every single year since Zaidi arrived, until last season. If you look at the facts objectively, then you’ll see that 2022 is clearly the outlier.
Squirrels find nuts using smell, not sight.
Here (finally) comes the Giants youth movement. Hoping to contend for a wildcard in 2023, but laying the groundwork for the foundation of 2024 and the future. You love to see it.
Their “youth movement” is nowhere near as good as the Dbacks or Dodgers, who have far better prospects. Frankly their talent pool is mediocre for how bad they have been since 2014 outside of that 2021 fluke carried by the dynasty pieces.
the dbacks are better than then giants or dodgers farm wise but the giants system is sorely underrated – partially because it was ranked lower due to injuries last season by a number of the top rated prospects. they are all playing and healthy now outside of bishop who won’t be back till next year
1988 since LA won a true world series. Yes, Dodger system is top ranked, but the guy is excited about the Giants young players and so could give 2 s**** about another teams young players. Speaking of which, the Dodgers youth movement has not led to a title, yes they’re better than SF, but the LA youth movement has only resulted in bowel movements in LA’s postseason.
Our 2016 draft class was essential to the 2020 title. Keep pretending you didn’t watch baseball that year
like I said…idioto señor
Totally with you sfgiantsguy! I am so stoked! All kinds of good vibes going on! Go Giants!!!!!!!!!
Youth movement. Haha
The SF Giants do not have a top 5 or even a top 10 system.
Hey Tony. Or is it Bull. Maybe Coward ?
Nor do the Yankees.
Totally agree with sfgiantsguy on this one. Schmitt, Doval, Bailey, Webb, Harrison…Humm Baby!
Harrison won’t ever make it as a starter. He’s too wild. Maybe a relief pitcher at best. Seth corry says so also lol
That’s all the players your excited for that the Giants drafted in the past decade? Lol
Interesting. Bailey has been fast tracked despite limited AAA time.
The 60 day IL for Ramos is quite the surprise. It’s definitely a way to keep him around a bit longer despite not fulfilling expectations.
The Stripling injury is a godsend, he’s been atrocious. If he comes back better he might look attractive as trade bait so long as SF picks up some of his salary.
I am actually kind of bummed about stripling since he has kind of looked more on track in the last few starts and manaea who looks like he is not on track is probably going to take some of that load
Hi bag o ballz, don’t give up on Stripling yet, perhaps he does have a real nagging injury that needs this time off. They will work with him to get him healthy and figure out what the issue is. Could be a minor tweak or who knows. It’s a long season. Maybe they get Stripling right enough to trade him at the deadline if Kyle Harrison starts looking ready.
Manaea went to Driveline this last winter and gained a few mph on his FB, which is a good but he lost his release point. Maybe with some fine tuning he can get right too. Seems like a cool dude, I hope he can be a productive part of the team
davemlaw — The same could be said about Manaea, and I’d hope he’d go first.
“… Oh baby baby it’s a wild world
It’s hard to get by just upon a smile” Ahahaha!
The Giants top draft picks of late have been terrible. Stratton, Bednar, Bishop, Ramos, Shaw and Bart. They need to find some better scouts and make some good picks. That’s a lot of busts. They get pick 14 or 15 this year but will pick a guy that’s projected to be a 2nd rounder lol.
They took some mediocre college pitcher in the 2021 2nd round while the Padres got James Wood. Starting to see how San Diego was the team able to pull off the Soto trade. Nobody wants Frahan’s collection of old college prospects.
The Padres haven’t gotten a star player in the first round since Trea Turner almost a decade ago. Maybe it’s worth more to look at the entire draft to understand how well a team does. Let me tell you, every single team has had more busts than stars.
Their first round pick Bednar isn’t even pitching this year and only got taken that high because of a good college world series lmao
Where’s the downvote button when I need it amk1920? Lololol! I could not disagree with your take more. So sick of the doomer talk! I love Zaidi!! Kick butt Bailey!
amk, the great Padres have weakened their farm with the trades. Soto has been a huge disappointment. They traded Trea Turner for Wil Myers. Get a clue amk, your takes, as usual, are full of baseless comments. BTW, Giants passed up the genius led Padres on Wednesday.
Giants entire season is 3 wins followed by 3 losses. Nobody is scared of that soulless platoon team. Padres actually beat the Dodgers in the playoffs. Giants couldn’t even finish the 2-1 lead. They thought it was over when Lux flew out
Some opposition fans certainly focus on them a lot.
idioto señor amk
You must be high
mason black was taken third round vaun brown 10th and landon roupp 12th round and all of those guys will likely be up in the next year or so and have been performing
Exactly lol
bishop is the only one of those drafted by the current regime and he has been ok but hurt a lot and out for the year this year
Ok? Not ok for 1st round talent lol. He wasn’t even projected to be 1st round something like 2-3rd lol. Giants have some A1 scouts lol
I heard from top sources that Ryder Jones, Wendell Fairly, Nick Noonan and Fred Lewis is making a comeback
Way to cherry pick your draft busts, bud:
Chris Stratton is from the 2012 draft class. Shaw from 2015. Will Bednar was in the 2021 draft class.
No mention of the 2 top prospects the Giants just called up or how well some of their other early round picks are doing (Harrison, McCray, whisenhunt)
Harrison is Seth corry part 2 McCray will lead all of MLB in KS if he comes up. Get real goof
Also wisenhunt looks solid but he’s only in A ball. Lowry and ty blach did well there too. Lol. Unless they dominate in AA without walking a shat load of hitters it’s nothing to get a chub over
Mute time LOL
Yes Candlestoked, I agree Lololol
Obfuscate used in the last sentence. Kudos.
One word for “ render unclear “.
Yeah, don’t know if this was the second time Stevenson’s been released but he needs to be reminded that the first cut is the deepest.
The haterade is real on this thread lolol
Giants should’ve brought players from the minors at the beginning of the season, give them a real chance, even if they finish last. Orioles and Dbacks did it and look at them now. But the Giants preferred to pay; Haniger 43 million, Conforto 36, Manaea25, Stripling 25, Taylor Rogers 33. Total=162 million. Mediocre veterans and no space on the roster for more rookies.
rogers is righting the ship -hasn’t given up a run since he walked 4 in a row and threw his glove in the trash – conforto will probably opt out if he keeps playing like he is now – haniger will do the same if he gets on track, there is a world where if stripling right it he will also do that but manaea is probably a contract you get stuck with
They’re still mediocre veterans past their peak. And Rogers… do you think he’s worth 33 million for 3 years? A relief pitcher that’s been bouncing around the bigs? He’s no Kenley Jansen , for example. Jansen is still a better pitcher and I think is making less money.
that depends on what rogers you get – before he was with the padres he was a closer and if you have a late inning arm – 11mm/yr isn’t unreasonable. Also saying that it is 162mm is just gaming the numbers – you should look at aav and tot total obligations
None of them will opt out. Nobody wants them.
Dude, it’s may 19. They just passed the quarter point. Please change your username to sffanakawhinyB
You can say what you want , but the truth hurts. Bad contracts, that’s it. Can anybody say they’re good contracts? Keep on trolling.
Lol you can’t say that they’re good or bad contracts after just six weeks, dude.
I will say that none of them are looking nearly as bad as the Correa or Rodon contracts at this point. But hey, like I said, it’s only been six weeks.
Dang, Steve, your articles are always written so well. You had a lot to cover but it was so easy to follow. Thank you. Re the story, maybe being on the varsity will help improve Bailey’s hitting. MLB coaching input. And I’m anxious to watch him catch and hopefully improve the caught stealing %. I don’t blame Bart, pitchers could be a factor, but Bailey has more experience with pitch clock, and milb pace of play rules, so an improvement might be forthcoming. Also, this bullpen, though improving lately, needs Walker to provide a shot in the arm.
And wouldn’t it be interesting if Bailey shows he’s productive enough to stay? Then Bart could be used as trade bait, and there will be interest in him from other teams (Guardians for a pitcher?)
Won’t take much Bart looks terrible at the plate
Trollers are active. Don’t hide in September.
107 wins was a fluke. It happened because of a few guys had career years a couple guys were in contract years and a lot of luck. Kapler and his woke staff are still some of the worst in baseball hence the top free agents will not come to SF and the only way to turn this around is through the farm system. Farhan’s roster churn is nothing but gambling
Lol woke staff, you sound fun.
What do his political views have to do with anything he does baseball-related?
When was the last time you visited SF, sfgiants1961? In 1961? I live here and I love Zaidi and Kapler. Acceptance and love are the answer. Try it, you might like it
Another idiot. Where are these rocks that you idiots are under?
Problem is they had a good captain and a leader that the team looked up too. Posey’s gone now and who’s the young players they going to look up to now? Crawford? Lol he needs to hang it up already
Why put “meanwhile” in the middle of the sentence when you can just start the sentence with it?
Kapler is a great coach. Zaidi developed the Tigers current GM Scott Harris and that is working out for us. 107 wins is a fluke??? Looked at some of the players he brought in that have worked out (i.e. Thairo Estrada) and some of his draft picks that were mentioned in previous posts. There was an article about the 2013 draft recently…what I took from that was first round draft picks don’t always work out. Zaidi finds diamonds in the rough from other people’s castoffs.
You definitely are related to Zaidi lmao
Female softball coach? Bench coach ( right hand man ) with some low level college experience? Where there no seasoned coaches in the Giants system or another teams system that have put in the time and have the experience worthy of a major league staff?
Oh no!! A female coach!! Clearly you’re living in 1961, and your last sentence makes zero sense…
This is it. This is what we’ve been waiting for. Great. Changeover with the minor league players drafted by Farhan & Co.
I don’t know if they’ll stick. But this is why he’s here. To produce major league quality prospects who produce at this level.
Bring on all of em I say. Let them play. And gain some experience. Then we will see if Farhan is worth his value. So far he’s been ok, up & down I’d say. Huge wins with some players. A carousel with others.
But definitely needs some wins with these minor leaguers making the jump.
I’m sorry Motor City Kapler is the Manager not the coach. He is considered a liability as an in game manager. That’s why he was fired in Philly. Try watching the television feed of opponents sometime when they’re playing the Giants and frequently you will hear the questioning and sometimes ridicule from the announcers about Kaplers game management. My point is he doesn’t have strong experience assisting him in the dugout to help him overcome his deficiency. Maybe he’s too arrogant to listen and it wouldn’t help anyway.
Kapler needs to go. Nobody can replace bochy but many people can replace Kapler lol
Agnes I live near the city and there’s a reason why it’s #1 in population exit in California and maybe the whole country. I don’t care about love and acceptance snow flake I want a winner! I’m tired of high ticket,concession and parking prices with an average product on the field.
I’m a bit tired of it all so I’ll hop on the internet and wail like a banshee. Throwing in a bit of weak misogyny along the way.
Who exactly is the snowflake here, Snowflake ?
FMD, MLBTR. Nothing but tears and hate.
Hey foppert, we have a little blog of friendly Giants folks if you would ever want to comment there. I have a different name there, it’s a Disqus comment system. I know you are busy with water buffalo now but lmk and I can give you the url. I wish I could pm you from here!
I’ll take you up on that , Agnes. I’ll go searching. Give me a week or so to get back home.
Thanks. Go Patrick. Go Giants !
No hurry! Get your work finished!
Go Giants!!!!!
Stop lol brown can’t hit high caliber pitching hell wiff his way back to aaa
Giants have no great prospects. Luciano is injury prone with high strike out rates no major plus in his future. Maybe 4th outfielder. Matos had a crappy year last year and is doing ok to start the year. Maybe another Andres Torres at best no AS type. Harrison is slightly a better VS then Seth corry. Giants prospects are weak and the guys who aren’t expected to be top prospects will out do the top prospects
lol. It’s almost like you are scared.
Scared of what? I’ma Giants fan and have been for years I know bums when I see em. Luciano has back problems. That’s one of the worst to have in baseball. If your hype over a prospect that walks more per inning in the minors, then you obviously don’t know how that translates into MLB lol. You probably thought Nick Noonan, Angel Villanona, Henry Sosa, Wendell Fairly, Tim Alderson, Steven Duggar, Seth Corry, Tyler Beede, Clayton Blackburn and Christian Arroyo were going to be great too huh. Lol
Being wrong. It was quite the obsessive little farm system episode you undertook there.
You are a Giants fan. Wow. The way you folks fan never ceases to amaze me.
Why listen to the experts when Pickle_Britches has the REAL inside scoop. I’m sure your highly unpopular takes have never been wrong…
I just have common sense man. It’s not difficult to figure out who’s a bust and who’s a real talent. If your a pitcher and you walk more per inn in the minors it’s highly unlikely you’ll succeed in the bigs. If you don’t draw walks and can’t hit for a good avg in the minors it highly unlikely you make it in the bigs. Even though you can hit a ball hitters for 20 home runs who cares lol. If you striking out at a high rate and can’t draw walks it’s not looking good. If you can’t throw strikes but you have electric stuff it’s not looking good. I mean it’s not to hard to figure out. It comes down to common sense and I know a lot of people don’t have it I get it but try ok please. Thanks
Buddy, you claimed the Giants have “no prospects” and only mentioned 3 guys who you think are struggling, ignoring the fact that those 3 are all just 21yo and significantly younger than the competition they’re facing at their respective levels.
All three of these guys have undeniable talent. Now, does that guarantee they’ll become MLB superstars? Of course not. Do they have things they need to work on? Absolutely. If they didn’t, they would be in the majors already. But to simply call them busts at this stage in their development is just ridiculous.
In 2023 –
Patrick Bailey: 6AB, 1 HR.
Joey Bart: 78AB, 0 HR.
Bart is a total head case and a bust. I’m guessing his playing time will be severely cut back when he returns, and then he’ll be packaged in a deal for a bullpen arm.