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

Now that Spring Training is so over, it's time to look back and see how these prospects perform in the Cactus League. Essentially, what we are looking at in Spring Training is whether these prospects powered up in the time skip that is the offseason. It should help us with our evaluations once the regular season starts. I only pulled up the prospects who pitched at least one appearance for the SF Giants.

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

Even if they only mustered just one out or even faced one hitter. To help support their games, we are also going to garner help from the clips taken at Papago from several friends of the site. We are not looking for the stats here. We are only looking at the tweaks in their game to see if those changes would help or hurt them in our evaluations throughout the season.

Hayden Birdsong

We only saw Birdsong early on this spring facing the Cubs and Rangers before getting sent to the Minor League camp in Papago just after the calendar flipped to March. Much of what we saw from Birdsong in Arizona is still pretty much similar to what we saw last season when he shoved his way and reached as high as Double-A. His mechanics with him pitching out of the stretch and a motion akin to Aaron Sanchez is still essentially the same.

His overpowering fastball is still quite overpowering, though he struggled to throw it with consistent precision. Fastball control has been Birdsong's biggest issue last season and you would hope that it improves this year. His breaking balls are still quite nasty, particularly the curveball. He's upped his usage of the slider last season and I expect it to be his second-most thrown pitch this season. The changeup is still a clear fourth pitch so that's something to watch in the regular season.

Spencer Bivens

Bivens was featured quite a bit this spring and there was a minute chance that he could be pitching in the big leagues out of spring training but that is ultimately not the case. The operation was similar to what it was last season, with clean mechanics that have a bit of crossfire where he fires low to mid-90s bowling balls with a solid slider and a changeup.

He is not a big strikeout/swing-and-miss reliever but he generates plenty of groundballs that should play at Oracle Park. No matter what happens with him throughout the season, his journey should be quite sweet considering how it started.

Mason Black

We got a chance to see a good amount of Mason Black in spring training this season and the results were kind of a mixed bag. I was not sure if he was primarily pitching to contact or if the stuff was not that effective so far in terms of generating swings and misses.

The stuff still looked relatively the same with his lively four-seam and two-seam fastball and his sweeper and not-so-sweepy slider variety. One tweak that I noticed is in his mechanics, particularly in how he gets to his leg kick.

Last season, his glove was around his chest and his torso stayed level at the top of his leg kick. This season, his glove is now around waist level and his torso drops slightly as he drives down the mound. The rest of the operation though stayed largely the same. Pitching to contact is worth monitoring for Black to keep his pitch count healthy as the front office believes in him as a starter.

Jack Choate

Choate pitched quite an interesting inning of work against the Dodgers that was televised. It was interesting in a way that there might need a revisit. I did not see any major changes to his approach or his mechanics.

It may just be a minor tweak regarding his slightly quicker tempo and slightly shorter arm action, but I can confidently say the operation is the same. An uptick in overall velocity is what I want to happen with Choate. His inning of televised work did not give any answers but his changeup was in full display. I think it might be a plus pitch, maybe better. The slider is also still there having its moments.

RJ Dabovich

It's nice to see Dabovich fully healthy after undergoing a major hip surgery last June. He did not particularly look good in his outing against the Athletics but at the very least, he was consistently pumping 95 mph fastballs and there are chimes that he's hit the high-90s mark. The curveball is still a mid-80s hammer but the control post-surgery is something that is to be monitored throughout the season.

Blayne Enlow

Enlow is one of the heavily relied-upon pitchers this spring, pitching in a regular four-day routing in his final three appearances. I guess the biggest kudos that I can give to Enlow is that he held his own against the loaded Dodgers lineup for three innings. He even struck out Freddie Freeman so that's a feat to remember. He struck him out with his best pitch, the slider. But he also has a fastball that can touch 95 mph, a curveball, and a changeup. The mechanics look fluid and he could be one of the first guys up to the big league roster during the 2024 season.

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.

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.