SF Giants: Rico Garcia Promoted, Sam Coonrod to the IL

Saturday was a busy day in the news cycle for the SF Giants, and they added to it by announcing a roster move involving a pair of relievers.

Sam Coonrod was placed on the injured list with a shoulder strain. Taking his place is hard-throwing righty, Rico Garcia, for the SF Giants.

This is the second trip to the injured list for Coonrod this season. The 2020 season has not gone as expected for the former fifth-round pick, which culminated in a key blown save in last night’s game.

In 18 appearances, Coonrod has posted a 9.82 ERA (4.75 FIP) with 15 strikeouts and seven walks in 14.2 innings. On top of this, opposing hitters have recorded 17 hits against the right-handed hurler, so Coonrod has pitched in traffic for much of this season.

He has electric stuff, including a high-90’s fastball and a solid slider, but if he cannot better command his pitchers, the struggles will continue.

On the opposite side of the transaction, Rico Garcia returns to the major league roster to give the Giants an extra hard-throwing arm.

San Francisco acquired Garcia as a waiver claim from the Colorado Rockies in November of 2019. The 26-year-old has posted a 5.40 ERA (4.28 FIP) with seven strikeouts and a 10.2 percent swinging-strike rate across ten frames.

Garcia flashes a fastball that sits comfortably in the mid-90’s and he pairs this with a cutter, changeup, and curveball. Evidently, the SF Giants like his stuff as he is normally one of the first names called up when the Giants need an extra arm in the bullpen:

The hope was that a move away from Coors Field would help the hard-throwing reliever, but that has not transpired yet. Regardless, the Giants are thin on quality, right-handed bullpen arms.

As the Giants prepare for a final playoff push over the next two games of the season, Garcia gives the Giants an extra arm in case a starter is not able to go deep into either game. For the Giants sake, hopefully, they get quality starts from their starters.