Ex-SF Giants pitcher who had heated exchange with Gabe Kapler finally gets signed

Former SF Giants pitcher Zack Littell, probably most famous for the time he voiced his displeasure with then-manager Gabe Kapler after getting pulled from a game back in 2022 and had a heated exchange with him in the dugout tunnel, finally signed with a team as he agreed to a deal with the Washington Nationals.

It's a bit surprising that it took this long for Littell to sign with a team. While he was a decent reliever during his time with the Giants, he has since transformed into a reliable rotation arm. There was even some speculation that the Giants could bring him back to join the rotation last season in a trade.

Ex-Giant Zack Littell finally signs with a team in free agency

The last two seasons, Littell has truly established himself as an effective starting pitcher. In 2024 with the Tampa Bay Rays he made 29 starts and pitched to a 3.63 ERA in over 150 innings of work. He followed that up in 2025 with a similarly strong campaign as he had a 3.81 ERA in 32 starts on the year, 22 coming with the Rays and 10 coming with the Cincinnati Reds after he was traded.

He seemed like a guy who could potentially land a $10 million deal to be a No. 4 or No. 5 starter, similar to the sort of deals the Giants gave to Adrian Houser and Tyler Mahle. Apparently Littell's market never materialized in that same way as he will make a $3 million salary with the Nationals.

Probably the fact that he struck out just 130 batters in 187 innings of work last year and had an FIP of 4.88 is why he was not able to garner as much interest from teams. Some may think he got a bit lucky last year and did not want to commit all that much money to him.

Still, the fact that he was become a decent starter will come as a bit of a surprise to Giants fans who last saw him in 2022 when he had a 5.08 ERA in 39 appearances, a far cry from the 2.92 ERA he put up in 2021 during the miraculous 107-win season. He got sent down shortly after his spat with Kapler and it would not have been a shock if he never pitched in the big leagues again considering his poor performance and public disrespect of his manager.

Credit to him, he has lasted quite a while now and can prove that his last two seasons were not a fluke with the Nationals this upcoming season. Maybe we can all have a laugh if he gets dealt to the Miami Marlins this season so Kapler, now the general manager in Miami, can have a word with him.