SF Giants promote Camilo Doval, place Johnny Cueto on IL

The SF Giants officially placed starting pitcher Johnny Cueto on the injured list with a strained lat on Friday. To take his place on the big-league roster, right-handed reliever Camilo Doval was promoted from the alternate site. While Doval was placed on the taxi squad late last season, he has never reached the majors before. Logan Webb will take Cueto’s place in the starting rotation.

Throughout his career, the 23-year-old Doval has racked up strikeouts at an impressive rate but struggled with control. This spring, Doval showed better consistency at MLB camp, striking out 7 while allowing just 2 walks and 2 runs across 5 innings of work. However, the young righty has still never appeared in a regular-season game above High-A.

The SF Giants placed RHP Johnny Cueto on IL and promoted RHP Camilo Doval.

Doval is currently the 31st best prospect in the Giants farm and has long been one of the most exciting relievers in the system. Here is an excerpt from his scouting report, from ATF’s preseason prospect rankings:

Doval has elite closer upside. He works out of a funky three-quarters delivery that makes it difficult for hitters to pick up his already elite pitch arsenal. Doval frisbees in a high 90s four-seamer that registers strong spin rates and a 88-92 mph cutter/slider with nasty late horizontal movement. Early in his career, Doval had major fluctuations in his velocity, but he has begun maintaining premium velocity over the past year.

In 2019, he spent the entire year at High-A. He appeared in 45 games, completed 56.1 innings, struck out 80, walked 34, and recorded a 3.83 ERA. His numbers weren’t as dominant as many would like, but Doval improved as the season went on.

Given the lack of elite stuff in the SF Giants bullpen, Camilo Doval might immediately have the best stuff on the team’s pitching staff. With only two other right-handed relievers in the bullpen, Doval should get plenty of opportunities to prove he belongs on the MLB roster.