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?

Tanner Kiest

Kiest spent the last season with the Giants after signing a Minor League contract before the 2023 ACL season started and pitched in Eugene to finish his first Minor League season since 2018. He was effective in three out of the four spring games that he pitched and he looked very interesting.

He is 29 years old so there is little to no projection left. What's interesting about him though is that he throws with a similar action as Max Scherzer or Craig Kimbrel though he does not drop to his back leg as much nor does he throw with an aggressive tempo. What he has though is a slight crossfire resulting in a low 3/4 arm slot and a lower-than-average release height. It allows his fastball to play up in the strike zone where it can reach 96 mph at its best. His mid-80 slider features plenty of frisbee sweeping movement where he can be a menace against righties.

Trevor McDonald

The version of McDonald that we saw against the Angels very early on is not what we typically saw from him last season. He struggled with his overall control of his pitches. He was sent back to Papago early to continue ramping up and Roger Munter of There R Giants caught him on film on his usual self. He was getting plenty of swings and misses with his sinker and breaking balls from a unique pitching motion where he really sinks on his back leg to generate energy and release the ball lower than usual even at a high 3/4 release point.

Erik Miller

Miller had been in hot contention with Juan Sanchez in the second lefty reliever role ever since Ethan Small went down to an injury. Like the Miller of old, the stuff is definitely there with a fastball that can touch the high 90s and secondaries that flash above average. Strike-throwing has been Miller's long issue and will likely not be rectified fully. At the very least, he was effective, and his effort and his 40-man situation earned him an Opening Day gig where he pitched in his big league debut against the Padres.

Tyler Myrick

Myrick has been a guy that people should know of and there was no indication that the version of Myrick last season is a fluke. The fastball still touches 96 mph with a four-seam and two-seam variety where he generates plenty of backspin with the four-seamer that hitters struggle to catch up to it up in the zone. The high-80s slider is also a legitimate strikeout pitch for him as velocity is the biggest dictator of success with the pitch. He can also vary the tempo of his windup to even catch hitters off guard. He should be on every Giants fan's radar.