SF Giants: Former Reliever Joins Cleveland’s Front Office

A former SF Giants reliever has hung up his cleats and transitioned into a front-office role with the Cleveland Indians.

Dan Otero, who pitched briefly with the SF Giants in 2012, has retired and joined Cleveland’s front office as an assistant in baseball operations.

Former SF Giants reliever joins Cleveland’s front office

The Giants originally selected Otero in the 21st round of the 2007 draft out of the University of South Florida. 20 rounds earlier, the direction of the franchise was forever altered when Madison Bumgarner was selected.

Otero, on the other hand, made a gradual ascent up the minor-league ranks. This was due in part to missing parts of the 2009 and 2010 seasons after undergoing Tommy John surgery. The right-handed hurler recovered and forced his way onto the Giants roster by Opening Day in 2012 after putting together a stellar season in 2011 where he posted a 2.31 ERA in 74 innings across two minor-league affiliates.

However, Otero registered a 5.84 ERA across 12.1 frames before being sent down to Triple-A. He would remain with the Giants organization throughout the 2012 season but hit waivers in 2013. He wound up with the Oakland A’s for the next three seasons, and then pitched for the Cleveland from 2016 – 2019.

In eight major-league seasons, the University of South Florida product recorded a 3.39 ERA, 3.52 FIP, 1.211 WHIP, and a strong 4.68 SO/W ratio. Furthermore, he pitched to a 3.07 ERA in 14.2 postseason innings with the A’s and Indians.

He was known as a reliable reliever who excelled at inducing weak contact as 57.7 percent of his batted ball events resulted in ground balls. While launch angle became the buzzword midway through Otero’s career, the longtime reliever did well to prevent hitters from generating loft on his pitches.

Now, Otero is ready for a new challenge as he joins Cleveland’s front office. He is not the first former Giants player to join a team’s front office this offseason, and it is encouraging when a player looks for ways to impact the game when his playing career comes to end.