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
That didn’t take long.
How do you mean, that didn’t take long?
Finally a shiny new lefty !
Make it stick kid, this is your shot.
Hoping the best for Kyle.
SFG needs a long term lefty starter.
They need to let him pitch like a starter. Knowing Kapler, he will probably have like a 60 pitch limit.
I’m hoping someone in the coaching staff knows how to ramp him up properly.
He’ll be on a limit but more like 70-80 I would assume. That is how deep he has been pitching in sac
Way too many BBs for a promotion
One thing that those MiLB BB’s totals don’t show you is how many of those BB’s are a result of young Pitchers working on new pitches before they come to the Bigs.
I’m an M’s fan – our Pitching Dev Group has our top Pitching Prospects work on attacking specific spots on a hitters zones regardless of the score in that night’s particular MiLB game. Our top SP prospects will work on adding pitches to their repertoire before they make their debut.
Add to that, his bb totals came a lot earlier in the year he had had something like 5 starts with 2 or less walks and the automated zone so they probably figure he has figured some things out
One thing to keep in consideration is that he’s coming from the automated strike zone in triple a , that by all accounts reduces the size of the zone. His walks are his issue but they aren’t offering anything better at this point there rotation is hot garbage.
Has just amount of balls as strikes all year every start and has pitched into the 5th inn 1x this yr. Next Jesse Foppert?
I think Foppert is a solid combo. Nearly forgot about the guy. We was great in Derek Jeter All Star Baseball 2002.
He isn’t ready but cool
So he’s a starter prospect who can’t actually start, doesn’t go 5 innings in AAA, can’t throw 80+ pitches, walks a HUGE number of batters, and has an ERA close to 5? Sounds like a perfect fit
It’s not like the Giants look to let him rarely go over 4 innings to conserve his arm, no, that would be silly.
What’s that? That’s what they’re doing? Oh.
But there’s two sides to that. There is also building a guy up to be able to start and go deep in games. I totally get what you’re saying and not arguing it, but if he’s going to be a starter they should start stretching his arm out a bit more in my opinion
Having an ERA close to 5 at the PCL makes you one of the best pitchers in the league. League average ERA is 5.86, and he has the 7th best ERA among PCL pitchers with 60+ frames.
Good point. I also didn’t take into account the awful robo-ump which has been inflating walk numbers across the board.
Thanks for the reply
I mean he’s not the best LH pitching prospect for a reason lol. Pitchers at AAA usually have inflated numbers. He’s been on a pitch count strictly all year because of some minor injuries. They try to keep him around 60-80pitches and when you strike out a lot you’ll eat up those pitch counts quick. He’s just turned 22 so have some faith.
walking 16% eats up those pitches too. ~6.50 bb/9 is pretty alarming.
They had the roboump that was horrible this year, which contributed to the walks. Fyi.
His pitch count i Sacto was only up to 60 last time I checked. So he isn’t very stretched out. Relying on Ks eats up a lot of pitches.
20 starts and only 65 innings pitched?
Harrison is gonna make Blake Snell seem economical
Farhan and Kapler failed. Move on.
lol
@heinster,
Surely you jest?
The worry over too many walks in the PCL may be a little overblown as he pitched against an automatic umpire and so far the auto ump has not received good reviews as to its accuracy
I don’t get how he has risen in rankings to 20 despite walk concerns and Jack Leiter, with similar K/BB rates, has fallen off the top 100 list on MLB.com. They have similar WHIP rates this year, and Jak was also top 100 before falling off. Obviously, Harrison has better career numbers and better numbers this year, but the two aren’t that far off. Couldn’t the same strike zone thing apply to both guys? Also, I think MLB may soon implement the accurate strike zone if they can get past players union’s typical obstruction efforts.
Prospect rankings aren’t soley based on performance. Leiter is also in his second go-around at Double-A. Harrison has an elite fastball, plus fastball, and above average change-up, per MLB Pipeline. Leiter has a plus fastball, slider, average change-up, below average curveball, and the same control as Harrison. Leiter is 23, Harrison is 21. Lots of other factors other than performance to consider.
Maybe someone can explain to In Seager We Trust (apparently I’ve been muted), that, as the article states, Harrison has a 70 grade FB, and a 60 grade slider. Whereas Jack Leiter has a 60 grade FB and a 60 grade slider. Plus, Harrison has a 55 grade changeup, and Leiter’s 3rd best pitch, his CB is a 50 grade. Also, Harrison is a lefty, and lefties with his stuff are more rare.
From fangraphs’ breakdown on Leiter, “While he lacks any modicum of touch and feel”. I think that is a really good way to describe him
Oh, so the whole league has 6.5bbs/9?
Close, the league average BB/9 is 5.0. As a whole, the PCL is basically pre-humidor Coors in the 90s.
That’s really not that close (~30% below average) and considering the level of players in AAA and that he’s still 1.5bb/9 higher than average, yikes.
His walk rate has been league average since May.
As others have mentioned, the Robo umps did nothing to help his BB/9. Also, walk rates at that level do not directly correlate to MLB stats as many pitchers are more concerned about developing their pitches than they necessarily are about the results. Harrison has had a league average BB/9 since the start of May.
When you ask a question about ranking MOVEMENT over a few months in 2023 and some troll on the internet tells you about static stuff ratings instead… you know you blocked the right ignorant troll. Reading what someone says and not insulting that person is not too much to ask here.
Read your last four sentences and try to practice what you preach.
First of all, simply dismissing anyone as an a troll, is just a cheap and easy shot, used far too often here for many who in fact aren’t trolls.
Some people just don’t like hearing what the reasons are when they don’t suit the agenda. The fact that scouts rate all three of Harrison’s pitches better than Leiter’s is dismissed as “static stuff”, and yet quotes MLB performance stats like K/BB and WHIP. Clearly someone is completely clueless to the fact that prospect rankings for pitchers are driven by the scouts.
The poster is dumbfounded by Leiter’s ranking dropping, and Harrison’s rising, but rejects reasons why. And yet can’t define what the reason are. Doesn’t know the reasons why, but somehow knows the reasons of others are wrong.
I’m fine with being muted by someone expressing that level of pretzel logic.
I mean, I guess. Utilizing for 50 pitches here and there for 3 or 4 innings is sort of getting him acquainted to major league action. Would much rather have him capable of starting and going a full 5 or 6 innings like a real starter and if that has to wait until next season , so be it. Why the half measures when you’re dealing with your future potential #1 starter???
If he’s your future #1 starter, you’re in trouble.
Imagine a flaming bag of poop that can see into the future.
Oh the troubles ahead..
dying laughing at “via X”
You go Kyle! Ignore all the naysayers and keep doing your thing! We are so stoked to see you and will all be rooting for your success!
Kyle will be a horse and will not care about the neigh sayers.
Lol gfan! Neigh sayers? Horse? I get it! Thanks for a laugh!
Hoping he is our lefty horse!
Me too.
Have a great night.
You too!
Way sooner than I expected..
Harrison has excellent stuff but I feel the callup is premature. He could still be a good starter down the road but his walk rate is insane at over 6 walks per 9.
Generally you want starters to be under 3 and even for relievers over 5 becomes really critical.
Thus I think Harrison needs more time in the minors to work at his control (not even talking command or avoiding middle middle but just basic putting the pitch into the strike zone).
The Giants track record with bringing up young pitchers indicates that they know what they are doing. I’m guessing he will enjoy Bailey more than he did the automatic strike zone.
Good luck, Kyle.
Super exciting foppert!!!!
I guess a nice pickup, With Mathias down for the year. Getting Dejong. It’s the guy they wanted Anyway. Ramos sent down sucks. But he’ll be back. I don’t know that This front office views him as much of anything. At some point one of these young position players is going to come up and stick. Become an all-star and really shine. Bailey is a part of that. Harrison getting some time up here is valuable whether he does well or not. Of course with a wild card in play I want him to do well. 5 innings 1 run should suffice.
I’m hoping that the offense will get going again. Tough times for that group. Haniger coming back should help. Yaz, I’m not sure when he comes back. Winning is contagious. And Sept Runs can infuse a lot of positive energy.
I might get down on things for this season. But a wild card win would be fantastic ! Go Get Em !
Just checking the minors. I don’t see anyone coming up to help big time in the next season. It looks pretty slim. Especially on the pitching side. This will take at least another 2-3 drafts to build this up. So my opinion, The Giants are well over achieving. Which is Great. Explains the stop gaps at every chance they get. Not a lot of minor league talent to come up and Help.
Gave up a HR to a Hall of Famer…..struck out 5