SF Giants promote RHP Tyler Chatwood to big-league roster

The SF Giants made a pair of roster moves on Tuesday, which enabled the team to promote right-handed pitcher Tyler Chatwood to the big-league roster. The Giants optioned right-handed pitcher Jay Jackson to Triple-A and placed Tyler Beede on the 60-day injured list.

A ten-year MLB veteran, Chatwood signed a minor-league contract with San Francisco less than two weeks ago. Since signing, Chatwood has made four relief appearances with the Sacramento River Cats, recording six strikeouts and a 0.00 ERA across 5.2 innings of work with the Giants Triple-A affiliate.

The SF Giants promoted Tyler Chatwood to the MLB roster.

Chatwood was originally drafted by the Los Angeles Angels in the second round of the 2008 MLB draft and was traded to the Colorado Rockies after his first big-league season in 2011. After spending the next six years as a mainstay in the Rockies rotation, he signed a three-year deal with the Chicago Cubs, who hoped taking him out of Coors Field would help him reach a new caliber of production.

Instead, Chatwood’s control fell apart seemingly as soon as he arrived in Chicago. Chatwood had always surrendered more walks than the average pitcher. However, it reached a new level in 2018 when he led the league with 95 walks in just 103.2 innings pitched. The Cubs soon permanently moved Chatwood to the bullpen, where he spent the next two seasons.

This season with the Blue Jays, Chatwood appeared in 30 games, recording 32 strikeouts, issuing 20 walks across 28 innings of work. While he recorded a 5.46 ERA before his release, most ERA estimators suggested he has been somewhat unlucky (4.07 xERA, 3.81 FIP, and 4.23 xFIP). Despite his propensity to issue walks, Chatwood has consistently avoided hard contact, suggesting he could still be a viable big-league arm. Still, given the depth of options in San Francisco, he’s unlikely to have a long leash if he struggles.

The SF Giants optioned Jay Jackson and placed Tyler Beede on the 60-day injured list.

Jackson joined the Giants this offseason on a minor-league deal but missed the start of the season after tearing his hamstring in spring training. When he returned, he dominated in Sacramento and was added to the big-league bullpen coming out of the All-Star break. Across 14.2 innings pitched (15 appearances) with the Giants, Jackson has posted a 3.68 ERA with 21 strikeouts. While Chatwood is replacing Jackson, it would be a surprise if he doesn’t rejoin the bullpen at some point this season.

Beede is rejoining the 60-day injured list after spending most of the season rehabbing for UCL surgery that he underwent last spring. Beede looked like a potential option to add some much-needed starting pitching depth to the farm system, but he’s struggled mightily at Triple-A (walking 45 batters in 48.2 innings pitched) and allowed three earned runs in his lone inning of work in the bigs this season.

The SF Giants have added veteran pitcher Tyler Chatwood to the MLB roster, optioning Jay Jackson, and placing Tyler Beede to the 60-day injured list.