SF Giants Player Review 2026: Tristan Beck struggled to sustain a regular bullpen role

Another day, another edition of our SF Giants Player Review 2026. Yesterday we looked back on Osleivis Basabe's up-and-down return to the major leagues. Today, we'll try to assess Tristan Beck's season, his fourth consecutive in a Giants uniform. Excluding the players on the 60-day, that makes him the fifth-longest-tenured Giant on the current 40-man roster.

Drafted in 2018 by the Atlanta Braves and then traded to the Giants in 2019 as part of the Mark Melancon trade, Beck came into the season fresh off a mediocre 2025 campaign, when he posted a 4.61 ERA over 56 2/3 innings. Back in 2024, though, he entered as a projected fifth starter before an upper-arm aneurysm landed him on the 60-day IL before the season even started. After a rough 2026 season, that version of Beck feels like a distant memory.

Beck couldn't find his spot with the big-league club

Much like that a lot of major leaguers this season, Beck's spring training was interrupted by the World Baseball Classic. For the Beck family, the tournament carried an additional emotional weight. On March 9 in Great Britain's 8-1 win over Brazil, Tristan recorded the final three outs to put the game away and secure his country a spot in the 2029 edition. Who started the game on the mound is what made that game extra special. Brendan Beck, Tristan's brother, opened the game by throwing four perfect innings. A memorable moment for the Beck family.

Following his country's elimination, Beck rejoined the Giants' spring training on March 12 and appeared in three more games before being optioned on March 24, his first of a long string. In six spring training appearances (7 1/3 innings), Beck posted a 3.68 ERA. From then on, the 30-year-old spent his season on an elevator between Sacramento and San Francisco.

From May 11, his first call-up, to the end of the season, Beck was recalled a total of six times. While his first stint of the season went smoothly — he tossed three scoreless innings across two appearances — things took a turn for the worse the second time he got called up on May 31. Over a four-appearance span, Beck allowed eight earned runs, including four in a single inning against the Brewers in Milwaukee. That rough patch drove his ERA up to 9.00. He got optioned again on June 10, only briefly.

Four days later, following Keaton Winn's injury, guess who got called up again? Yep, Beck. During that 10-day stay in the majors, Beck recorded his first and sole save of the season against the team that drafted him, the Braves, pitched two scoreless innings in Miami, and then got optioned back. More of the same. This time for a whole month, which actually was a pretty long stretch for Beck.

Between July 21 and August 7, Beck traveled four more times (two call-ups) between the Bay Area and the Sacramento Valley before ending up on the injured list with the River Cats on August 19. His sixth and last call-up (finally) came on September 20. After all that back and forth, Beck found a way to finish his fourth season in the big leagues on a high note. He pitched five scoreless innings over his last three appearances and picked up his only win of the year against the Minnesota Twins on September 21, just the fifth of his career.

Despite that encouraging final stretch, the end-of-season numbers don't bode well: a 5.21 ERA across 14 appearances and 19 innings pitched. As for his future with the franchise, it's still a bit cloudy, as it is for a lot of the current members of that dismal bullpen. The Giants are expected to undergo a massive overhaul of their bullpen, and Beck might turn out to be one of the casualties. Besides, a couple of relievers such as Trent Harris or Dylan Smith might have played their way into next year's relief corps and overtaken Beck in the pecking order in the process.

Returning to Sacramento is on the table, but only if/when the team designates him for assignment, as Beck doesn't have a minor-league option remaining. He would need to clear waivers before the Giants can outright him to Sacramento. Add him to the winter pending-development list.

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