SF Giants add a pair of pitching prospects to the 40-man roster, DFA Kai-Wei Teng

The deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 draft came on Tuesday and the SF Giants decided to protect two pitchers. Carson Seymour and Carson Ragsdale were added to the 40-man roster, per the team's transaction log.

SF Giants add a pair of pitching prospects to the 40-man roster, DFA Kai-Wei Teng

The Giants began the day with only one opening on the 40-man roster. They opened up another spot by designating Kai-Wei Teng for assignment. He will now wait for up to 10 days for his case to be resolved whether he is scooped up by another team or clears waivers.

Teng was added to the 40-man roster last winter for the same reason Seymour and Ragsdale were added on Tuesday. The right-handed pitcher struggled during his brief time with the Giants, posting a 9.82 ERA across 11 innings of work. He did not perform much better in Triple-A as he tallied an 8.60 ERA with 61 strikeouts against 44 walks in 75.1 frames with the Sacramento River Cats.

Both Seymour and Ragsdale were high on our list in terms of who the Giants would add in a light year for Rule 5 draft protection. Seymour made the most sense but Ragsdale was not far behind either.

Seymour proved to be one of Sacramento's most reliable pitchers in 2024. He registered a 4.82 ERA, 1.57 WHIP, 8.8 K/9, 2.20 SO/W rate, and a 53.5 percent ground ball rate in 134.1 innings. It is hard to evaluate a pitcher based primarily on his ERA in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.

The 25-year-old pitcher struggled on the road due to the high elevations and thin air in some of the ballparks but he pitched to a 3.92 ERA in 14 appearances at home. Sacramento's home ballpark, Sutter Health Ballpark, is one of the fairer fields in the Pacific Coast League.

On the other hand, Carson Ragsdale began the season in Double-A after missing much of the past two years due to injury. He recorded a 3.49 ERA in 14 starts before earning a promotion to Triple-A where he pitched to a 5.03 ERA in 13 appearances with the River Cats.

The 6-foot-8 pitcher has typically worked out of the rotation but a move to the bullpen feels like the quickest way in which he can help the club. He tallied 147 strikeouts in 120.2 innings last season. The strikeout total was tied for 25th in the minors.

Ragsdale flashes a mid-90's four-seam fastball that he pairs with a slider, changeup, and a curveball. The curveball has a tight, 11-to-5 movement and is the best of his secondary offerings. The fastball velocity does not overwhelm but thanks to above-average extension, it gets in on opposing hitters quickly.