SF Giants move rostered pitching prospect up to Triple-A

SF Giants pitching prospect Trevor McDonald is one step closer to debuting with the club. On Friday, he was moved up to Triple-A after making only three starts with the Richmond Flying Squirrels.

SF Giants move rostered pitching prospect up to Triple-A

The Giants protected a trio of pitching prospects from the Rule 5 draft by adding them to the 40-man roster last winter. This included McDonald along with Erik Miller and Kai-Wei Teng.

The Giants have already gotten a long look at Miller as he has quietly become Bob Melvin's go-to lefty out of the bullpen. On the other hand, Teng made a handful of appearances earlier in the year.

From the three players who were protected, McDonald was arguably the furthest away from appearing with the club. However, the team felt the need to protect him after he posted a 0.96 ERA in 37.2 frames with the Eugene Emeralds last season.

Despite being on the 40-man roster, the right-handed pitcher was not a true candidate to make the team out of spring training. He did miss the start of the season after sustaining a groin strain but worked his way up to Double-A where he tallied a 3.21 ERA with eight strikeouts against only four walks in three outings.

Generally speaking, this sample would be too small to move a pitching prospect up to the next level. However, being on the 40-man roster does accelerate a player's climb up the minor league ladder for better or worse.

Plus, it bears mentioning that the 23-year-old is relatively green with experience as he has only accumulated 261.1 innings since being selected in the 11th round of the 2019 draft. Nevertheless, he is a mature pitcher who has an arsenal that consists of a mid-90's sinker that he pairs with a curveball, slider, and an occasional changeup.

McDonald misses some bats with a sinker that has late, running movement, but it is an effective pitch at keeping the ball on the ground. On the other hand, his curveball has 1-to-7 movement that he can command in the zone for strikes.

The righty pitcher needs to continue building up experience. However, if the pitching staff has a need for an extra arm, he could be one of the next names called up.