Giants option Tyler Fitzgerald

The Giants announced that infielder Tyler Fitzgerald has been optioned to Triple-A Sacramento. That opens an active roster spot for right-hander Justin Verlander to be reinstated from the paternity list.

The move highlights what a seachange it’s been for Fitzgerald compared to last year. In 2024, he popped 15 home runs in just 96 games. He slashed .280/.334/.497 for a wRC+ of 132. He stole 17 bases and bounced around to various positions on the field, mostly at shortstop.

Coming into 2025, the Giants signed Willy Adames to cover shortstop but seemed likely to have Fitzgerald as their everyday second baseman. For the first month of the season, that was how it played out. Through the end of April, he had a .284/.341/.432 batting line and 119 wRC+ while holding down the keystone.

Unfortunately, he then hit the injured list due to a left rib fracture. He returned a couple of weeks later but has been slumping badly since then. He has stepped to the plate 110 times since coming off the IL but with a brutal line of .186/.245/.227 in that time.

The Giants have apparently decided that Fitzgerald needs a rest away from the big leagues, so he’ll get regular playing time in Sacramento as he tries to get back on track. In his absence, the second base playing time will likely go to some combination of Christian Koss, Brett Wisely and Casey Schmitt, though Schmitt is currently covering third base while Matt Chapman is on the injured list.

Neither Koss nor Wisely has much major league success thus far. Koss has a .219/.269/.260 line in 81 plate appearances with Wisely at .212/.256/.312 through 415 trips. Ideally, Fitzgerald will get back in a groove fairly quickly, or perhaps Chapman can get healthy in short order and bump Schmitt over to second base. With the deadline just over a month away, the Giants have some time to suss out the situation and decide if the infield is something they need to address at the deadline.

For Fitzgerald personally, it’s likely to impact his trajectories to arbitration and free agency. He came into 2025 with exactly one year of major league service time, which would put him on pace for exactly two years of service after 2025. A major league season is 186 days long and a player needs 172 days of service to get a full year, so it’s still possible for Fitzgerald to get to that two-year line, though he would have to be recalled in the next two weeks and stay up the rest of the way.