SF Giants may have nabbed future Doval replacement by trading Mike Yastrzemski

The SF Giants traded their longest-tenured player, outfielder Mike Yastrzemski, to the Kansas City Royals in exchange for 21-year-old right-handed pitcher Yunior Marte. The young arm could turn into a future Camilo Doval replacement.

The Giants deciding to trade Yastrzemski stings. He was the longest-tenured player on the team and even though his departure felt like a possibility, especially as of late, it still hurts to a see a guy go who had become a fan-favorite over the years.

SF Giants trade away fan-favorite in Yaz, get intriguing prospect in return

Yastrzemski had been struggling as of late. On the season he has slashed .231/.330/.355 with eight home runs and 28 runs batted in. Even though he struggled at the plate, he still provided value with his defense and baserunning. He is the kind of player who did the little things right, played hard, and had the respect of his teammates which is why he stuck around for so long.

Despite this, it makes sense for the Giants to give young players like Luis Matos or Grant McCray a long look in the outfield for the rest of the year. Let's hope Yastrzemski has great success in Kansas City because he was a very good Giant.

In return, the Giants got 21-year-old Yunior Marte from Kansas City. In 19 minor league starts this season, Marte has a 2.74 ERA in 82 innings pitched. He has struck out 79 batters and walked 20 with a WHIP of 0.99.

His scouting report reveals that he has a fastball that can touch the high-90's in velocity as well as a slider that works well against righties. His changeup is a work in progress and the report concludes:

"Marte brings some energy to his delivery, and even at his size, he repeats it well enough to keep strikes coming. If the cambio doesn’t come around, the righty could make for a decent arm out of the bullpen with his two other offerings. But for now, his sustained Columbia success should help his starting chances for beyond this breakout season."

If Marte does prove to be better suited for the bullpen, he could develop into a pitcher with a similar profile to the recently departed Camilo Doval. A tall, hard-throwing righty with a plus slider is exactly what Doval brought to the table, so maybe if the Giants are lucky Marte can develop into a strong bullpen arm just like Doval.

It is sad to see Yastrzemski depart, but at least the Giants got an interesting piece in return. The Giants decided to sell at the deadline, so we will see how these deals involving Doval and Yastrzemski will age over the years.

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