Major SF Giants prospect involved in Devers trade hasn’t been called up by Red Sox

When the SF Giants swung a massive blockbuster trade with the Boston Red Sox for slugger Rafael Devers, the most enticing piece Boston got in return was pitcher Kyle Harrison. It has been months now, and Harrison has yet to make his debut with the Red Sox.

It was a bit of a surprise when the Red Sox assigned him to their Triple-A affiliate after the trade. Harrison was pitching with the Giants at the time of the trade and had looked pretty solid. One could rationalize it as Boston not wanting to rush him into things or put him in the spotlight right away, but the fact that he remains in Triple-A nearly three months after the trade is a bit puzzling. 

Former SF Giants prospect Kyle Harrison has yet to debut with Red Sox

It’s not like he has been doing bad in Triple-A. He got off to a bit of a rough start early on but he has calmed things down since then. In 12 appearances he has a 3.75 ERA in 50 and 1/3 innings pitched. He has 50 strikeouts and 27 walks while allowing five home runs in that span. 

So why has Boston seemingly been reluctant to call him up?

Boston is currently one of the three AL Wild Card teams and it seems like they have a very good chance to make the playoffs. FanGraphs has them at a 95.4 percent probability to make the playoffs. 

At this point, there is no need to call up Harrison. If the team was struggling and they were out of the playoff race then it would make complete sense to call him up and get him acclimated to pitching at Fenway Park. That just is not necessary though. It makes more sense to work him into the mix next season. 

The trade between the two teams has really become more of a straight up trade of Devers for Harrison in essence. That is because Jordan Hicks has been awful with Boston and the Red Sox got rid of James Tibbs III, who was also part of the deal, by sending him to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Jose Bello was also part of the trade and could end up being something, but Boston is really banking their hopes on Harrison being a worthwhile return.

The short-term prognosticators who cannot look beyond immediate results have already declared Boston the winners of the trade since they have played much better since getting rid of Devers than the Giants have since acquiring him. Boston could very well end up winning the trade in the long run, but Devers has looked great as of late for the Giants and if his recent stretch is a preview of how he will largely look over the course of his Giants tenure then San Francisco will feel like they won the deal.

Only time will tell, but until Harrison starts pitching for Boston we will not get a great sense of how Boston did on the return for Devers. 

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