SF Giants send down reliever, promote Carson Seymour for MLB debut

The SF Giants made a roster move ahead of Friday's game against the Chicago White Sox. Reliever Sean Hjelle was optioned to Triple-A, whereas young hurler Carson Seymour was promoted to the acive roster for his major league debut, per the team's transaction log.

SF Giants send down reliever, promote Carson Seymour for MLB debut

Hjelle posted a 6.75 ERA in nine outings, including one start, with the Giants this season. The 28-year-old is currently under investigation by MLB for abuse allegations made by his wife, Caroline Hjelle.

The Giants originally acquired Seymour in a five-player deal that sent Darin Ruf to the New York Mets in 2022. Seymour, along with Nick Zwack, were the two prospects acquired by San Francisco in the deal.

Since then, the right-handed hurler has made a gradual ascent up the minor league ladder. He has registered a 3.98 ERA across five minor league seasons. This includes two seasons with the Sacramento River Cats, where he has recorded a 4.49 ERA, 1.49 WHIP, 9.3 K/9, and a 2.22 SO/W ratio in 44 outings.

Seymour gets a lot of ground-ball contact, inducing a ground ball in 53.5 percent of batted ball events with Sacramento. In general, he gets a healthy number of strikeouts and ground balls while walking a few too many batters. Seymour also does a nice job of keeping the ball in the yard, even in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. More than any Giants prospect in the system, he is built to handle a heavy workload, throwing at least 110 innings in each of the past three seasons.

On the mound, Seymour throws from a high, three-quarters arm slot. He relies on a mid-90's sinker and a power slider. The sinker does a nice job at keeping the ball on the ground, and the slider averages 85 MPH while still getting some two-plane tilt. He relies on that pitch to get swinging strikes.

The righty pitcher also throws a low-90's cutter and has increased the usage of his four-seam fastball. He throws the four-seamer a tick harder than his sinker and that has been a nice offering for him this year, even if his usage with it remains low. There could be an opportunity for him to throw it more, as it helps to change the sightlines against hitters.

Seymour's role could be a fluid one that depends on a few factors, including performance. He will likely throw out of the bullpen from the start, but Landen Roupp could be nearing an innings limit and Hayden Birdsong displayed a notable drop in his velocity in Thursday's 12-5 loss to the Miami Marlins. If Seymour throws well, he could pitch his way into the rotation.