SF Giants’ Jordan Humpreys trade with Mets bolsters pitching depth

The San Francisco Giants swung a trade on Sunday morning as they acquired New York Mets reliever Jordan Humphreys in exchange for outfielder Billy Hamilton.

The Mets designated the right-handed hurler for assignment on Wednesday, so he will be added to the Giants 40-man roster. The Giants had an open spot on the 40-man roster after removing Dany Jimenez from it this past week.

San Francisco never got a chance to see Hamilton’s speed and defense play out as he did not make the club out of camp due in part to being on the injured list for much of it.

The Mets originally selected Humphreys in the 18th round of the 2015 draft out of Crystal River High School in Crystal River, Florida.

The 24-year-old has worked mostly as a starter but has worked out of the bullpen as well. In four minor league seasons, Humphreys has posted a 2.60 ERA with 9.4 K/9 and 1.6 BB/9 across 169.2 frames.

While those stats look appealing on the surface, he has had a rather slow ascent through the minor league ranks. He has never pitched above Single-A due to needing Tommy John surgery in 2017 that kept him on the shelf for all of 2018.

That said, he did return with a sterling performance in the Arizona Fall League in 2019 where pitched to the tune of 0.77 ERA in 11.2 innings.

SF Giants acquisition Jordan Humphreys was ranked No. 21 in the Mets system

Fangraphs ranked the right-hander as the 25th and 21st best prospect in the Mets system in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Kiley McDaniel and Logenhagen believe that Humphreys has the potential to be a back-end starter:

“…there isn’t as much upside as his numbers would suggest, even if everything comes back as it was before. Humphreys works with three pitches that are all average to slightly above to go with similar command, but his control is above average. The upside is as a No. 4 starter and the reasonable expectation is more of a No. 5 starter, spot starter, or long reliever. This is the kind of pitcher who will excel statistically in the lower levels, where hitters generally aren’t selective and aren’t used to a pitcher who can command three MLB-quality pitches, but that’s the expectation in Double-A.”

The control and command part of his profile is not too surprising. In the available video, Humphrey’s features an easy, repeatable delivery that does not require too much effort:

Interestingly, the Mets added Humphreys to the 40-man roster back in November of 2019, so the quick hook is surprising. Rising Apple pegged him as a name to watch when the original Spring Training got underway.

The Florida native will report to Sacramento, but since there is no minor league season and that he is on the 40-man roster, it would not be too surprising to see him make his debut as a reliever this summer.

Though, as we have seen, this could be a way to build organizational depth by trying to sneak him through waivers later on. Either way, the Giants picked up an intriguing, young arm without having to pay a steep price.