Mason Black set to make MLB debut with SF Giants on Monday

The SF Giants have finally called up their young pitcher Mason Black to the big leagues. He is going to make his MLB debut on Monday against his hometown team, the Phillies.

Mason Black set to make MLB debut with SF Giants on Monday

The Giants calling up Black seemed inevitable for some time. Ever since Blake Snell went on the IL, it seemed like Black was the best candidate to replace him in the rotation. The Giants experimented with an opener/bulk reliever strategy each of the last two times through the rotation, but it did not work at all. The Giants will now let Black take the ball and start Monday's game.

Black has definitely earned this opportunity. In Triple-A this season, he has an ERA of 1.01 in 6 starts. He has pitched 26 and 2/3 innings and has 29 strikeouts and a WHIP of 0.9. He did everything he needed to do in order to show the front office and the big league staff that he is ready for this next step.

Not only has he done well this season, but his career minor league stats across all levels are impressive as well. He has an ERA of 3.22 in 262 and 1/3 innings pitched with 320 strikeouts.

While the Giants have plenty of starters on their staff who are primarily ground ball pitchers, Black relies on his 4-seam fastball a lot and is more of a strikeout/fly ball pitcher in the mold of Kyle Harrison.

Black is not going to be eased into the big leagues. Monday's game is not a fun assignment at all for Black. He is going against one of the best lineups in all of baseball and he is trying to prevent the Giants from being swept. Not to mention the fact that he will be throwing to a catcher who was only called up in the last day or two. Perhaps this will work to Black's benefit in a way since he was probably working more closely with Blake Sabol and Jakson Reetz in Triple-A.

Nonetheless, it remains a tough assignment. However, the big leagues do not hand out favors to anyone. Black has an opportunity to go out and make a statement in his first big league appearance against a really tough team.