The San Francisco Giants made their first roster move of the season over the weekend that wasn’t to address an injury.
Veteran relief pitcher Lou Trivino was designated for assignment after pitching 12.1 innings and recording a 5.84 ERA with 11 strikeouts. He was hurt by the long ball, surrendering four home runs.
Taking his place on the Major League roster will be former top prospect Kyle Harrison.
Arguably the most shocking development of spring training for the Giants was Harrison’s inability to lock down the No. 5 spot in the starting rotation for Opening Day, which was a role Landen Roupp won in camp.
Hayden Birdsong, who also performed well in the spring, earned a spot in the Major League bullpen and has thrived in his multi-inning role the team has created for him.
One of the reasons why Harrison was sent to Triple-A Sacramento was because the organization had no plans of using him out of the bullpen. They were against using him as a second left-handed reliever behind Erik Miller, but for now, the team is saying that is the role he will assume at the Major League level.
It makes sense to have another southpaw option to turn to late in games, but the team hasn’t run into any issues thus far with the current alignment they have.
If San Francisco changes course, it isn’t easy picking out a starter who Harrison could replace.
Robbie Ray has been showing flashes of his former Cy Young form and Justin Verlander has been holding his own to retain a spot. Logan Webb remains as reliable as ever as the team’s ace and it is unlikely Roupp has to deal with another role change this soon.
That puts attention on Jordan Hicks, who has thrived previously as a reliever and is struggling in his transition to being a starting pitcher.
After a dominant outing in his debut against the Houston Astros, he has failed to record a quality start with a 6.03 ERA. His FIP indicates he has performed better than his numbers suggest with a 3.38, but he could be the odd man out if a shakeup occurs with the staff.
Moving Hicks to the bullpen would cause the least amount of ripple effect with the rotation.
It will be worth keeping an eye on in the coming weeks, especially with how dominant Harrison was in Sacramento this season.
He had a 13.2 K/9 ratio compared to 2.9 BB/9, a 33% strikeout rate and reports about his velocity, which was a major topic in spring training, have all been positive.
The Giants seem to have changed course on not using him out of the bullpen, but that could always change given how much momentum he built through his first six starts and 26 innings this year.
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