SF Giants outright veteran minor league infielder off of the 40-man roster

The SF Giants trimmed the roster on Friday. Veteran minor league infielder Donovan Walton was outrighted off of the 40-man roster according to the team's transaction log.

SF Giants outright veteran minor league infielder off of the 40-man roster

With Blake Snell opting out as expected, the 40-man roster now stands at 35. The Giants will need to activate four players from the 60-day injured list next week. This list includes Jung Hoo Lee, Keaton Winn, Tom Murphy, and Wilmer Flores. At that point, the 40-man roster will jump back up to 39 barring a surprise addition or deletion.

Friday's move marks the second time that Walton was moved off of the Giants' 40-man roster in recent years. They originally acquired him in a 2022 trade that sent pitching prospect Prelander Berroa to the Seattle Mariners.

The left-handed bat slashed .158/.179/.303 with one home run and eight RBI in 78 plate appearances following that deal. Oddly enough, he tallied 12 hits with nine of those being extra-base hits during his first stint with San Francisco.

Walton became a free agent after the 2022 season and remained with the club on a pair of minor league deals. He did perform well with the Sacramento River Cats this past season, slashing .306/.380/.441 (107 wRC+) with seven home runs, 51 RBI, and 53 runs in 387 plate appearances. This includes a 10.1 percent walk rate, 11.9 percent strikeout rate, and .135 ISO.

The Giants rewarded the 30-year-old infielder by adding him back to the 40-man roster in September. It was one of the many confusing decisions made by the front office this past season as they tried to improve the roster around the margins in the hopes of upping the win total. Walton certainly performed well enough to justify a roster spot, but at the end of the day, his playing time could have been allocated to one of the younger players instead.

During his brief time with the club, Walton tallied just three hits in 22 at-bats. One of those hits with a solo home run in a 4-3 loss to the San Diego Padres on September 15. Walton does have enough service time to reject a minor league assignment, thereby becoming a free agent.