Beck back!
We knew the San Francisco Giants would have to make a roster move ahead of their series opener on Friday against the Washington Nationals. And now we know what that move is: right-handed reliever Tristan Beck is beck.
On Friday afternoon, the Giants recalled Beck from AAA Sacramento. He takes the place of fellow right-handed pitcher Justin Verlander, who was placed on the 15-Day Injured List (retroactive to May 19) with right pectoral soreness.
Beck was hoping to make the Opening Day roster but, with his velocity behind a lot of other options, found himself in Sacramento instead. The 28-year old has been very solid for the River Cats, appearing in 15 games and having a 3.24 ERA and a 2.77 FIP, with 29 strikeouts and 11 walks in 25 innings.
While this will be Beck’s first time in the Majors this season, the Stanford alum has made 40 MLB appearances over the last two seasons, and pitched 101 innings. He has a 3.56 ERA and a 3.99 FIP in the bigs and, crucially, has another option year after this one. So he still has plenty of time to prove to the Giants that he deserves to be a long-term piece, though he’ll surely hope to start proving that over the next week or two.
In addition to calling up Beck, the Giants announced that Kyle Harrison will take Verlander’s turn in the rotation on Saturday. That means that, after the Spring Training competition, Harrison, Hayden Birdsong, and Landen Roupp are all in the rotation now. Pretty exciting!