The San Francisco Giants haven’t given fans much to look forward to in a lost season. Trading Patrick Bailey to the Cleveland Guardians — a surprising move at the time — wasn’t what sank them near the bottom of the National League West standings.
The pitching prospect they received in return for Bailey, Matt “Tugboat” Wilkinson, at least offered a glimmer of hope for the future.
Wilkinson, a member of Team Canada’s pitching staff in the World Baseball Classic this spring, has put together an intriguing 10-start performance at Triple-A Sacramento.
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According to Jeff Passan of ESPN, the Giants will give Williamson a look before the end of the season and promote him to their MLB roster for the first time.
A British Columbia native, Wilkinson was a 10th-round pick by the Guardians in 2023. He was 3-4 with a 5.15 ERA in 10 starts for the Sacramento RiverCats, the Giants’ top farm team.
Beneath the inflated ERA that often greets pitchers in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, Wilkinson had a solid 24.0 strikeout percentage and 9.5 walk percentage. Opponents hit only .225 against him at Triple-A after he stifled Double-A hitters (.115 opponents’ batting average in 15 innings).
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FanGraphs ranked Wilkinson as the No. 14 prospect in the Giants’ organization.
Wilkinson didn’t allow a hit, walked two batters, and struck out four in 2.2 innings for Team Canada in his brief World Baseball Classic exposure. His WBC debut was highlighted by a strikeout of United States catcher Cal Raleigh, who was coming off a historic 60-homer season for the Seattle Mariners.
More to come on this story.