With spring training underway next week, it’s a good time to take stock of who will be in camp with the Giants. Here’s a brief refresher on all 32 pitchers who will be in camp. We’ll take a look at the hitters tomorrow.
40-man roster pitchers (20)
Tristan Beck, RHP: There weren’t many more inspiring stories last year than Beck’s successful return and recovery from an aneurysm in his upper arm that was diagnosed in spring training. He underwent vascular surgery and returned on Sept. 3, posting a 1.69 ERA in 16 innings over seven appearances including one start. Beck, who turns 29 in June, has the repertoire to start but is expected to compete for a swingman role again. He has a minor-league option remaining, so he’ll need a solid spring to crack the roster.
Hayden Birdsong, RHP: From the 98-mph fastball to the hammer curve to the ease of his delivery from a 6-foot-4 frame, there’s a ton to like about Birdsong’s potential to be a major league rotation asset for years to come. The 23-year-old developed in the big leagues out of necessity last season and his inexperience showed at times, especially when it came to putting away hitters or getting the third out; a 40-pitch inning brought several of his starts to a premature end. But Birdsong’s 12-strikeout game at Baltimore showed how high his ceiling really is. The ideal scenario for the Giants will be that everyone in the rotation breaks camp healthy, which would allow Birdsong to begin the season by getting more reps at Triple-A Sacramento, where he made just two starts last season.
Spencer Bivens, RHP: Bivens had the ultimate “just happy to be here” backstory as a 30-year-old rookie last season, having begun his pro career in a French league and then persevering through two seasons of indy ball before steadily working his way through the Giants system. Bivens stood out as a dependable strike thrower who earned his way into a big league camp invite midway through last spring because he worked over the plate whenever summoned to eat late innings and rescue a slog of an exhibition game. He might have fatigued while becoming more hittable down the stretch and will need to miss more bats in his next taste of the major leagues. It was dream fulfillment to get to the big leagues; staying there is far tougher.
Mason Black, RHP: A 2021 third-round pick, Black hoped baseball would help him pay for a pre-med education on the way to a career as an orthopedic surgeon. But he kept adding velocity and turned himself into an intriguing pro prospect. Last year was a mixed bag for the 25-year-old, who celebrated his major-league debut but only completed five innings in two of his eight starts. The Giants have more than a dozen viable starting pitchers in camp and Black is probably near the bottom of that list. Whether it’s adding velocity or showing more ability to maintain his stuff, he’ll have to improve on last season to stand out from the pack and get another MLB opportunity.
Camilo Doval’s uneven 2024 season included a trip to Triple A. (Scott Taetsch / Getty Images)
Camilo Doval, RHP: There aren’t many pitchers who fall from an All-Star appearance one season to a Triple-A demotion the next. That’s how much Doval frustrated Giants coaches and front-office personnel while pitching his way out of the closer role. But optioning him was more about getting his attention than making an evaluation that he wasn’t one of the best relievers in the organization. Doval was back after 10 days in August and pitched mostly in a setup role behind Ryan Walker the rest of the way. Doval still has all the triple-digit stuff in the world to dominate, but he’ll need to reduce free passes — his walk rate per nine innings ballooned from 3.5 in 2023 to 5.9 last year — and make strides with the running game to retain a trusted, high-leverage relief role.
Kyle Harrison, LHP: Harrison didn’t appear on any NL Rookie of the Year ballots and his overall numbers in 24 starts (4.56 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, just 118 strikeouts in 124 1/3 innings) show no indication that the left-hander should be considered one of the game’s brightest young pitchers. Except for two things: Harrison competed as a 22-year-old last season. And he competed without his best stuff. Harrison was the definition of competitive while completing at least five innings in 16 of his first 18 starts despite shoulder discomfort and flagging fastball velocity. He hopes that tweaking his offseason training to a less-is-more approach, and applying the lessons he learned last season, will restore some of the ride on a fastball that comes at hitters from a highly deceptive arm slot.
Jordan Hicks, RHP: Former Giants president Farhan Zaidi made a four-year, $44 million gamble that Hicks, a former Cardinals closer with a 103-mph fastball, could make a successful conversion to the rotation. The gamble paid off through the end of May when Hicks had a 2.70 ERA after 12 starts. But no matter how carefully the Giants managed his innings, his legs were bound to get heavy and he was out of gas by mid-June. Hicks finished the season as a reliever and he had a sore shoulder in September but coaches who watched him work out all winter at Oracle Park are raving about his conditioning. He’s expected to open as the team’s No.4 or No.5 starter.
Sean Hjelle, RHP: Hjelle overcame a sprained elbow in spring training to post career bests in games (58), innings (80 2/3) and ERA (3.90) while turning into a strikeout monster at times. He struck out 10 batters over two appearances at Philadelphia May 3-6, becoming the first Giants reliever in 44 years (Tom Griffin, 1980) to post double-digit strikeouts in a single series. Standing 6-foot-11, he was also perfectly cast as Willy Wonka when the Giants arranged for the rookies to dress as Oompa-Loompas on the final road trip of the season. Hjelle isn’t guaranteed a spot in the season-opening bullpen and he still has a minor-league option, but he was dependable enough last season to enter with solid incumbent status.
Trevor McDonald, RHP: McDonald made his major-league debut while closing out the Giants’ season last September, tossing three shutout innings against the Cardinals. The Giants have been in love with McDonald’s potential forever. He received their third highest bonus ($800,000) in their 2019 draft class as an 11th-round pick and he was protected from the Rule 5 draft after the 2023 season despite not having pitched above High A. He doesn’t have an established track record for filling up the strike zone and it’s unclear whether he’ll develop enough pitches beyond his curve and fastball to continue as a starting pitcher. But he’s on the 40-man roster so now’s the time to transform himself from a project to a contributing big leaguer.
Erik Miller, LHP: It’s understandably hard to be a Giants fan and watch Shohei Ohtani in the batter’s box. At least there’s Miller and a fastball that must be dusted with kryptonite. Miller faced Ohtani five times last season and struck him out in all five confrontations, four of which came in tightly contested games. Miller held lefties to a .163 average and his 73 appearances were the third most among MLB left-handers. The Giants will lean heavily on Miller again after trading lefty Taylor Rogers to Cincinnati — and that might be a risky given Miller’s minor league health history.
Carson Ragsdale, RHP: If Hjelle is the center on the Giants’ intramural basketball team, then the 6-8 Ragsdale is their power forward. A 2020 fourth-round pick by the Phillies, before coming to the Giants in a trade for reliever Sam Coonrod, Ragsdale has 365 strikeouts in 267 2/3 minor league innings and made a successful return to the mound last season following surgery to address thoracic outlet syndrome. The 26-year-old was added to the 40-man roster in November to shield him from the Rule 5 draft.
Robbie Ray, LHP: In hindsight, the Giants counted on Ray to contribute far too much last season after acquiring the rehabbing pitcher from the Mariners. He made just seven starts and threw 30 2/3 innings before pulling his a hamstring. So there wasn’t much drama about Ray’s decision to stay rather than opt out of the two years and $50 million that remains on his contract. Ray signed that deal in with the Mariners when he was coming off his AL Cy Young-winning season in 2021 in which he led the league in strikeouts. He showed brief flashes of that strikeout stuff last season after returning from a 16-month rehab following reconstructive elbow surgery that involved both ligament and tendon repairs. With all rehab restrictions removed this season, the Giants are counting on Ray to return to an approximation of his previous form.
Randy Rodriguez, RHP: The 25-year-old answered the bell early and often for manager Bob Melvin last season after making his MLB debut in May. He recorded at least four outs in 17 of his 35 appearances despite seldom being used over multi-inning stretches in the minors. Rodriguez, whose average fastball is 97.6 mph, made a successful return in September from a bout of elbow soreness. Whether Rodriguez makes the season-opening bullpen or not, he’s likely to be asked to contribute a lot of innings again.
Tyler Rogers, RHP: Rogers, who led the NL with 77 appearances last season, will have to find a new catch partner after playing alongside his identical twin for the past two seasons. This will be a walk year for Rogers, as problematic as that verbiage might be. That’s because he set a major-league record last year when he did not issue an unintentional walk in 35 appearances to start the season. Rogers walked just six in 70 1/3 innings — two were intentional — and did his usual thing while posting exit velocities low enough to break Statcast. His extreme groundball tendencies promise to be more effective than ever while pitching on what might be the best Giants defensive team in a generation.
Landen Roupp, RHP: No pitcher in Scottsdale made a bigger impression on coaches and catchers last spring than Roupp, who showed an uncanny ability not only to throw his hard curveball over the plate but to command it within the strike zone as well. Roupp made the opening-day roster and threw his curveball 44 percent of the time while making 23 appearances, including four starts. He took his share of lumps and dealt with elbow fatigue but avoided the lower back issues that dogged him in the minors and also posted the longest streak by any Giants pitcher without giving up a home run (187 batters). Roupp is likely to open the season in the rotation at Sacramento but is a good bet to be a mainstay before too long.
Carson Seymour, RHP: Seymour is another power forward on the mound, standing a broad and imposing 6-6 with power everything in his arsenal. Seymour is the only player remaining among the four that came back in the trade that sent Darin Ruf to the Mets. He allowed a bit too much traffic in 28 starts for Sacramento last season to receive his first call to the majors, but his durability and raw stuff necessitated a 40-man roster spot to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.
Justin Verlander, RHP: Verlander doesn’t need 300 victories to seal his Hall of Fame candidacy — the three Cy Young Awards, the AL MVP award and the pair of World Series championships already grant him inner-circle status — but it’s a pursuit that will be on everyone’s mind every time the 42-year-old takes the mound. That’s because Verlander, given how teams deploy rotations these days, might be the last MLB pitcher with a chance to reach that milestone. He won’t get there this season — he’s 38 wins away — but getting anywhere near halfway there would make his one-year, $15 million contract a steal.
Ryan Walker, RHP: The cross-firing, sidearm slinging, one-time 31st-round pick emerged as one of the best relievers in the game last season — and one of the most uncomfortable to face, too. His 76 appearances trailed only Rogers among NL relievers and he ranked among the league’s best in WHIP (0.85), ERA (1.94) and strikeout rate (32.1 percent). His 97 strikeouts as a reliever (not counting two he recorded in an opener assignment) were the most by a Giants relief pitcher since Robb Nen in 1998. Now all Walker needs is an entrance song as iconic as “Smoke on the Water.”
Logan Webb, RHP: There was plenty to like about Webb’s 2024 season even if he didn’t feel it was up to his standards. He made his first All-Star team and the true measure of his value was his NL-leading 204 2/3 innings, which might have prevented a few arm surgeries in the bullpen given how the Giants rotation crumbled around him. Webb completed seven innings in 15 starts, which qualifies him as a throwback extraordinaire in this modern age when pitchers seldom face a lineup a third time. But Webb never got a feel for his changeup, which had a minus-4 run value one year after it had been the second most valuable pitch in baseball (plus-28, trailing only Gerrit Cole’s fastball). Webb’s walks ticked up and his strikeouts ticked down as his K/BB ratio tumbled from a league-best 6.26 in 2023 to a good-not-great 3.44. Asked earlier this month what personal goals he would set, Webb gave a direct answer. “Win,” he said. “I’m sick of losing.”
Keaton Winn, RHP: Winn opened last season in the rotation even though elbow soreness limited him to just two exhibition starts. It was all uphill from there as he battled forearm and elbow soreness over 12 starts before undergoing ulnar nerve transposition surgery on July 29. He’s expected to be healthy and ready to go this spring but the road to a place in the rotation is a lot more crowded now. Winn still has an option so he could work out of Sacramento’s rotation if he can’t land a role somewhere on the major-league staff. Getting out of the spring healthy should be his primary goal.
Non-roster invitees (12)
The team will have to make room on the 40-man roster to add any of these pitchers to the active roster.
Raymond Burgos, LHP: Burgos is someone you’ll miss on the “Name the 2024 Giants” Sporcle quiz, but he did make his major-league debut and get into exactly one game last season after the Giants signed him out of the Mexican League. He had excellent numbers in Sacramento in a small sample, and with the Giants actively looking for a lefty to replace Taylor Rogers, he’s someone to watch a little closer in camp.
Miguel Del Pozo, LHP: The 32-year-old Del Pozo has pitched for the Angels, Pirates and Tigers in his career, and he was most recently in the Tigers’ system, posting strong strikeouts and strikeout-to-walk ratios in Triple-A before Tommy John surgery cost him his 2024 season.
Miguel Díaz, RHP: Díaz, 30, has a mid-90s fastball and major-league stints with the Padres, Tigers and Astros over the last seven seasons, with his most success with the Tigers in 2023, where he picked up a lot of swinging strikes with his fastball and slider.
Justin Garza, RHP: Garza made his major-league debut with Cleveland in 2021 and last appeared with the Red Sox in 2023. The sinkerballer was in the Giants’ system last season, with a strong strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.33) in Sacramento.
Antonio Jimenez, LHP: Jimenez, 23, is one of the younger players on this list, spending his last six seasons in the Rays’ system. He’s on the smaller side, but he still reaches the mid-90s and was once something of a prospect. He’s never had stunning strikeout rates, but he’s deceptive enough and has enough stuff to dream on, at least if you’re the kind of sicko who dreams about getting a couple decent seasons from low-leverage lefties.
Joey Lucchesi figures to be an important depth arm this season. (Rich Storry / Getty Images)
Joey Lucchesi, LHP: Lucchesi was once a part of the Padres’ present and future, with enough value to be a major part of the Joe Musgrove trade, going to the Mets in a three-team deal. Injuries derailed his time in New York, but he’ll likely be a part of the Giants’ rotation depth, with a decent chance of making the team as a long reliever out of spring training.
Juan Mercedes, RHP: Yusmeiro Petit will be a guest instructor in camp, and I’d like to think he’ll connect with Mercedes, a 24-year-old starting pitcher with a lot more command than stuff. Mercedes walked 26 batters and struck out 126 in 144 1/3 innings for the Mariners’ Double-A affiliate last season, and it was the best season of his professional career so far. While Mercedes will never be a fastball-first pitcher, he locates it well and his secondary stuff gives him a chance. Why? Because it benz. It benz sharply.
Helcris Olivarez, LHP: Olivarez walked 53 in 38 Double-A innings last season, so it’s possible that he has some minor command issues to work out. His arm is electric enough, though, that the Red Sox assigned him to Double A after missing 2023 with an injury and with just 22 games of experience above Rookie ball. He finished last season in the Giants’ system, and they must have been impressed enough with what they saw to bring him back.
Joel Peguero, RHP: Peguero is an under-6-foot right-hander, and if he’s still getting invitations to spring training, that means he can throw hard. That stuff hasn’t always translated into missed bats, though, and his 9.8 K/9 in the Tigers’ system last year was his best showing in the upper minors.
Enny Romero, LHP: The first major-league batter Romero faced was a 20-year-old Manny Machado, which gives you an idea of how long he’s been around. While he hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2018, he did have a relatively successful stint as a starter for the Chiba Lotte Marines in 2022.
Ethan Small, LHP: Small was in the Giants’ system last year after they purchased him from the Brewers before spring training, but he spent more time on the 60-day IL than the 40-man roster. A former first-round pick, he’s regularly posted gaudy strikeout numbers in the minors, and the Giants should be excited to see what he can do when healthy. I know I was impressed at one point, even if I don’t remember why.
Ethan Small looks kinda nasty.
— Grant Brisbee (@GrantBrisbee) February 26, 2024
Kai-Wei Teng, RHP: Teng is the last player remaining from the Sam Dyson trade, and he looked like he had a chance to click last season, when he was added to the 40-man roster and got to show off a funky bowling-ball sinker. His season was a disaster, though, and he rarely knew where the ball was going. It was disappointing enough that no team claimed him on waivers after he was DFA’d, and he re-signed on a minor-league deal this offseason.
Cole Waites, RHP: Waites was a hot relief prospect for the Giants at one point, touching 100 mph with them back in 2022 and pitching in parts of two major-league seasons. He blew his arm out in 2023, though, and hasn’t been pitched since. If he’s healthy and the fastball is still there, he could be back in the majors sooner than you think.
Carson Whisenhunt, LHP: Whisenhunt was a top-100ish prospect before last season (depending on the list), but he struggled with walks and home runs in Triple A, getting passed up by Birdsong when the Giants needed a starter from the minors. His strikeout rate was still there, though, and his changeup is still one of the better versions in the minors. The Giants will add him to the 40-man roster after the season if he has a decent-enough year, but he could also be the next man up if he thrives in the minors.
(Top photo of Webb: Robert Edwards / USA Today)
