Giants release veteran infielder

The Giants have released veteran infielder Johan Camargo, who’d been playing with their Triple-A club in Sacramento, per the transaction log at MiLB.com. Camargo briefly was summoned to the big league roster last month but passed through waivers unclaimed near the end of August and accepted an outright assignment back to Sacramento.

The two sides will now part ways. Camargo only signed on with the Giants in mid-August after spending time with the Triple-A affiliates of the Royals (who signed him to a minor league deal in the offseason) and the Tigers (who signed him to a minor league pact after he opted out of said Royals deal). The versatile 29-year-old has played in 51 Triple-A games this season between those three clubs, slashing a collective .250/.335/.429 in the process. He went 4-for-18 in his abbreviated big league look with the Giants.

Camargo has now logged big league time in each of the past seven seasons, albeit in sparing fashion over the past few years. He was an oft-used utilityman with the Braves from 2017-19, tallying 1,028 plate appearances and batting .269/.328/.438 while spending time at all four infield positions and in both outfield corners. The switch-hitter has played in just 110 MLB games and tallied 331 plate appearances in the four years since that time, turning in a far more tepid .209/.267/.314 output.

At this stage of the season, there’s no certainty that Camargo will sign on with a new club for the final few weeks. He’d be a free agent at season’s end unless a new team wanted to add him to the 40-man roster and control him via arbitration for next year, which seems unlikely after he just passed through waivers a few weeks ago. Even if he doesn’t sign with a new club before the offseason begins, Camargo ought to again command interest as a depth option in minor league free agency. He’s a .299/.372/.492 hitter in parts of six Triple-A seasons (totaling 1,054 plate appearances) and has logged considerable time at shortstop (4,750 innings), third base (3,300 innings), second base (1,039 innings) and first base (687 innings) in his professional career.