SF Giants activate Sean Hjelle from injured list, send pitching prospect to Triple-A

The SF Giants rearranged the deck of the chairs in the bullpen on Saturday. They activated Sean Hjelle from the injured list while optioning Kai-Wei Teng in a corresponding move, per the team's transaction log.

SF Giants activate Sean Hjelle from injured list, send pitching prospect to Triple-A

The Giants lost Friday's game against the Arizona Diamondbacks by a score of 17-1. The game was already out of reach by the time Teng entered but the Giants hoped to get a little more length in a blowout loss.

Teng surrendered five earned runs on four hits and three walks in just one inning of work against Arizona. The outing raised his ERA to 9.82 and he allowed at least two earned runs in each of his four appearances with the Giants in 2024.

The righty pitcher will return to Triple-A where he finished the 2023 season. With the Sacramento River Cats, he tallied a 4.22 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, 10.9 K/9, and a 2.00 SO/W ratio in 79 innings. This motivated the Giants to add him to the 40-man roster in the offseason.

On the other side of the transaction, Hjelle returns to the Giants after experiencing elbow soreness in spring training. At one point, the Giants' starting pitching depth had run extremely thin following the arm injury to Tristan Beck.

This opened up the possibility that Hjelle could begin the season in the starting rotation, but he experienced the elbow issue shortly thereafter. The good news is that it was not a serious injury.

The back end of the bullpen is still up for grabs, which could present another chance for the 6-foot-11 pitcher. That said, he has struggled in limited action against major league hitters, posting a 6.17 ERA in 23 outings over the past two seasons. His numbers in Sacramento have not been much better as he has tallied a 5.42 ERA in parts of four seasons with the River Cats.

On a more positive note, Hjelle began a rehab assignment last week with San Jose before moving up to Sacramento. He did not allow an earned run in three outings with Sacramento.