Quite a pitcher carousel.
We’ve known since Sunday night that left-handed pitcher Carson Whisenhunt, the top pitching prospect in the San Francisco Giants organization, would make his MLB debut tonight when the Giants host the Pittsburgh Pirates. But before that could happen, the Giants would need to make a corresponding move or two, to open a spot on both the active and 40-man rosters.
Now we know those moves. Right-handed pitcher Sean Hjelle was optioned to AAA Sacramento to clear an active roster spot, while right-handed pitcher Carson Ragsdale was designated for assignment to create an opening on the 40-man roster.
Ragsdale being DFA’d is a little bit surprising. He was added to the roster in November (along with the third Carson, right-hander Carson Seymour) as a Rule 5 protection. It’s pretty rare for teams to DFA Rule 5 protections before they’ve even made their MLB debut. And it didn’t seem like the area the team would be eliminating depth from, given that they currently have five outfielders who are on the 40-man roster and in AAA (Daniel Johnson, Grant McCray, Wade Meckler, Marco Luciano, and the rehabbing Jerar Encarnación).
But Ragsdale had been struggling, and is sporting a 5.37 ERA and a 7.19 FIP in Sacramento this year, with 58 strikeouts and 38 walks in 65.1 innings. After beginning the year as a starter, he had been moved mostly into a relief role lately, though the results didn’t improve. Given his poor numbers, there’s a decent chance he’ll clear waivers, at which point he’ll surely be outrighted back to Sacramento.
As for Hjelle, his optioning shouldn’t be surprising, as he was only called up a few days ago when Landen Roupp was placed on the Injured List. He was here for bullpen depth on Sunday (he pitched the ninth inning and gave up a run) and now he’s back to Sacramento. It hasn’t been a good year for him in the Majors, where he has a 7.80 ERA, a 5.15 FIP, and 11 strikeouts against nine walks in 15 innings.
But the excitement is that Whisenhunt — who doesn’t have eye-popping numbers this year, but has a beyond-elite changeup — is here for his MLB debut. It should be an exciting night at Oracle Park.