Who were the most exciting SF Giants pitching prospects in the Cactus League?

Who were the most exciting SF Giants pitching prospects in the Cactus League?

Matt Frisbee

Frisbee only pitched one outing this spring, against the Angels, and only faced one batter. And yet, it was a revelation. Back when he was one of the biggest breakout pitchers in 2022, he dominated the Double-A level with his slider. He can precisely locate the pitch to get both swinging and called strikes.

He lost not only his control but also, most importantly, his confidence when he got shelled at Triple-A in the same year. He was still trying to regain some semblance of his old self last year. He threw a couple of fastballs and a couple of splitters against a lefty batter against the only batter he faced. Granted, a splitter is certainly a type of pitch that you throw against a righty. However, he was unafraid to throw his slider against any hitter no matter the handedness. If this is Frisbee's path forward, it will certainly be worth watching.

Evan Gates

Gates pitched multiple times this spring but did not pitch in a televised game. However, I have seen him pitch, and it was quite interesting. Yes, Gates is still the same in terms of the stuff, but the pitch usage now may be different. His high-80s slider/cutter (depending on who you ask) from the looks of things will be the feature pitch alongside his mid-80s curveball.

He's already been doing this quite a bit in the high-Minors and while it helped him keep up in terms of strikeouts, his walk rate rose and his run prevention suffered as a result. He is not known for his velocity so his taking this breaking ball-heavy approach makes sense to him, even if it hurts his strike-throwing.

Kyle Harrison

Yes, everyone. Kyle Harrison is still a prospect even though he's deeply entrenched himself in the rotation. I would likely omit him altogether once the season starts as I do my weekly recaps as he's pitching in the big leagues, maybe only giving a couple of thoughts or so specific to him and Lee Jung-hoo.

So far, we've seen more good than bad on Harrison. When he's in sync as for most of his outings, he's as good as advertised. The fastball can be plainly unhittable, the slider is wipeout, and the changeup can have its moments. When he's getting too rotational though like in his outing against the Royals, he can be quite erratic. That did not limit him from racking up plenty of strikeouts still but the walks can be an issue. The former happened more times than not though, and we'll take those if we're the Giants.

Wil Jensen

Jensen was solid in his spring training appearances and was essentially the same pitcher since he entered the Giants organization. He relied upon his pitch-to-contact skills with his low-90s fastball, curveball, and changeup. A bit of a vanilla operation but he's been effective as a reliable innings-eater in the places that he pitched.