Underrated reliever crashes expert's updated Giants Opening Day roster projection

The SF Giants are trying to sort out their pitching staff with the team's first regular season game being played two weeks from today. Trevor McDonald has looked really good in spring training and just upended Andrew Baggarly's Opening Day roster projection.

His full roster projection can be read here in The Athletic, but he has McDonald earning a spot in the bullpen.

Trevor McDonald could be key part of SF Giants bullpen

Based on the way the 25-year-old right-hander has looked thus far in Arizona, it would be hard to keep him off the team. In three outings and six innings pitched, he has yet to allow a run and has given up just two hits and one walk while striking out seven batters.

Since the start of camp he has impressed with his high-velocity fastball. McDonald is not known as a guy with a ton of velocity, but the fact that he has reached 97 miles per hour definitely bodes well for his chances.

At the very least, he is giving the Giants a tough decision to make. While the bullpen is wide open, the Giants probably only want one of their young starting pitchers on the roster at most. This includes a contingent of McDonald, Carson Seymour, Carson Whisenhunt, Hayden Birdsong, and Blade Tidwell among some others.

San Francisco will want most of those guys to remain stretched out so they can be called up and be able to make a start if a member of the rotation goes down with an injury. But there is still room for at least one of those guys to make the team and serve as a long reliever or swingman.

Birdsong filled that role nicely to start last season and proved to be an impressive weapon out of the bullpen. He pitched well enough to join the rotation but eventually lost his command and was sent back to the minors.

He got off to a rough start in spring but looked better in his most recent outing. The same can be said about Whisenhunt who started off poorly but was very effective in his last start. Seymour has looked really good while Tidwell has fallen off after a solid start.

McDonald has competition so if he slips up there are guys right there ready to steal his roster spot which he has a tenuous hold on right now. He is scheduled to start on Thursday against the Chicago White Sox so if he has yet another solid outing it may be nearly impossible to keep him off the team.