SF Giants add former A's pitching prospect on minor league deal

The minor league season is just getting underway, but the SF Giants continue to add to the organization. According to the team's transaction log, 28-year-old pitching prospect Parker Dunshee has agreed to a minor league deal.

SF Giants add former A's pitching prospect on minor league deal

For now, Dunshee will report to extended spring training. However, he has experience in the upper minors, so he should be reassigned once he has built up enough arm strength to pitch in regular season games.

The right-handed hurler was originally drafted by the Oakland A's in the seventh round of the 2017 draft out of Wake Forest University. Oakland was the only organization Dunshee had been a part of before being released earlier in the month.

The A's and Giants have exchanged several players in the past couple of weeks. Outfielder Cal Stevenson and pitcher Sam Long were both shuttled between teams in a pair or separate trades. Now, Dunshee goes from the A's to the Giants organization. Trades between the local rivals have been rare over the past 25 years and we are still waiting for our first player-for-player trade since 1990.

The addition of Dunshee should give the Giants a little extra organizational depth in the upper minors. In six minor league seasons, he has registered a 4.78 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 8.8 K/9, and a 2.93 SO/W ratio while working primarily out of the rotation.

It looked like Dunshee was on the fast track to the majors as he reached Triple-A in his second full season as a pro. He struggled to the tune of a 5.38 ERA in 20 appearances in his first stint in Triple-A, but that is not entirely uncommon.

As is the case with many minor leaguers leading up to the 2020 season, Dunshee lost a season of development that year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. His development was further stalled as he underwent thoracic outlet surgery in August of 2021. The recovery from that procedure is lengthy and the 28-year-old has struggled for much of the past three seasons.

The scouting report might be a little dated, but Eric Longenhagen and Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs thought that Dunshee did a little bit of everything well, which would help his development.

""He didn’t have huge stuff then and still doesn’t, with everything consistently grading a 50 and flashing 55s at times. But the 55s are showing up with a little more regularity, the command has gone from average to plus, and he knows exactly how to use the many pitches he has. Scouts think he’s now a high probability back-end starter who outperforms his raw stuff in the minors and may continue to do so in the majors.""

Eric Longenhagen and Kiley McDaniel

That did not exactly come to fruition due in part to injuries. That said, a pitcher with a decent fastball, changeup, and curveball with good command usually plays above his talent level. The most important thing is just getting back to health and earning consistent playing time.