What might be the best role for inexperienced arm going forward

In his time with the SF Giants, Keaton Winn has shown the qualities to becoming a serviceable starting pitcher. However, health has rarely allowed that potential to play out. Does a shift to the bullpen make sense?

What might be the best role for inexperienced arm going forward

Winn underwent Tommy John surgery in 2021. This kept him out of action until midway through the 2022 season. When he returned in 2022, it marked his first start in nearly three years.

Winn put up a 4.08 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 10.4 K/9, and a 3.91 SO/W rate in 108 innings across three levels to finish out the 2022 campaign. They rewarded him by adding him to the 40-man roster that offseason.

Since then, Winn has battled elbow ailments and underwent another elbow procedure in 2024 that kept him on the shelf for the remainder of the year. It was more of the same for Winn in 2025, as he missed most of the first half of last season due to an injury.

When Winn did return, the Giants quietly used him out of the bullpen in Triple-A. Overall, the results were not great. He posted an 8.49 ERA in 23.1 frames for the Sacramento River Cats. He did earn a brief stint with the Giants in September.

During that stint, the right-handed pitcher allowed five earned runs with nine strikeouts and two walks in 10 innings. Those numbers do not jump off the page, but if you look at his Baseball Savant page, there are a lot of encouraging trends, including fastball velocity, chase rate, and whiff rate.

Despite it being a small sample, it also served as a reminder that Winn has a major league arm. His splitter has generally graded out as an above-average pitch, and he throws two kinds of fastballs that sit in the mid-90's. Winn also throws a slider that gives hitters an offering with more gloveside movement to contrast with the armside run that comes from his fastball and splitter.

Winn has a major league pitch mix. Health and durability have gotten in the way of that playing out on a major league mound. Now, the righty pitcher is entering his age-28 season. It might be best for the Giants to recognize that a move to the bullpen might help Winn stay on the mound.

Despite this, the Giants continued to lightly mention Winn as a starter during the offseason. Whether it plays out that way is a different story. If not, there is a pretty open competition in the bullpen, and Winn has the type of stuff that could do well in a leverage role.