San Francisco Giants: Quality bullpen reinforcements await opportunity

The San Francisco Giants have a deep bullpen at the MLB level. Despite this, they made some savvy moves during the offseason to bring in several quality relievers as minor league free agents.

The San Francisco Giants have some enviable relief pitching depth at the minor league level. That’s not necessarily important today, but when they begin to sell off their relievers this summer, it will most definitely come into play.

The list of intriguing minor league relievers to keep an eye on includes, but is not limited to, Jandel Gustave, Sam Moll, Sam Selman, and Fernando Abad.

These relievers are not only performing well at the minor league level, but three out of four of them have major league experience, with Selman being the lone exception.

Abad, in particular, has extensive major league experience with a 3.65 career ERA over 317.2 big league innings. With the way some bullpens have blown up around the league, Abad could certainly help another team. He could also fit onto the Giants roster if they decide to trade someone else from their bullpen surplus.

While Abad, Gustave, and Selman were all brought in on minor league deals, Moll was selected in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft. It is not often that teams get a chance to nab someone with major league experience in the minor league rounds.

From this quartet, three out of four are also left-handed relievers, with Gustave being the lone exception. Teams are always seemingly in need of more left-handed relievers. And, the Giants loaded up on left-handed relievers in preparation of this expected demand.

Let’s take a closer look at those four relievers, how they’ve performed this season, and what they bring to the table.

Fernando Abad, 33, is trying to re-establish himself after being suspended 80 games in 2018 for a failed PED test.

Like many middle relievers, Abad did not sign until after spring training began. His contract did not include a major league camp invite.

Splitting his time between Double-A and Triple-A, Abad has posted a 1.45 ERA with a fantastic 22-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 18.2 innings. Lefties are batting just .087 against him with a .217 OPS and seven strikeouts in 24 plate appearances.

As a southpaw with extensive experience, Abad might be appealing to a lot of teams and could wind up serving as a minor trade chip for the San Francisco Giants. With the way he is pitching, it is clear he is above the talent he is competing against.

As for Sam Selman, he too has split his season between Double-A and Triple-A with solid results.

The 28-year-old carries a bit of intrigue for two reasons:

First, he worked out at Driveline this past offseason. Driveline is a training facility where pitchers incorporate data to improve their mechanics and pitch quality.

Second, he has not yet made his major league debut, so there is some mystery to him as an unknown commodity. With Abad, teams already know what he brings to the table.

In that sense, Selman could be a fringe reliever, or he could be a quality bullpen arm thanks to the changes he made during the offseason at Driveline.

He has captured the attention of at least one Giants beat writer:

He has continued to impress, posting a 1.31 ERA with 34 strikeouts against six walks in 20.2 innings. He has been very difficult to hit, as evidenced by his 4.4 H/9 and .141 opponents’ batting average.

The 2012 second-round pick has always had swing-and-miss stuff with 11.0 K/9 in 497 career minor league innings.

The issue has been his control. He has walked batters at a 5.4 BB/9 clip during his career, including 6.6 BB/9 last season. The marked improvement he has shown in that area this season could wind up being his ticket to the big leagues.