All the buzz on the Giants surrounding Casey Schmitt has folks wondering who’s next.
There are a host of intriguing prospects in San Francisco’s ranks that could see the majors this season. Patrick Bailey was the team’s first-round pick (13th overall in 2020) and was called up on Friday, along with righty and former 31st-round pick Ryan Walker.
While Kyle Harrison, the team’s top pitching prospect, is getting all the buzz, Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic singled out another lefty pitching prospect who could rise up the ranks and see the majors this season.
Baggarly joined Papa and Lund on Friday and dropped the name Carson Whisenhunt, the Giants’ second-round pick in 2022 out of East Carolina.
“The other guy that we don’t talk about enough that I think can be in the big leagues this year is Carson Whisenhunt,” Baggarly said. “I mean, this guy has a plus, plus big league changeup. He’s throwing strikes.
“He just had another dominant outing for Eugene after I think it was his fourth or fifth start for Eugene after San Jose was where he started the season. And I guarantee you he might not make another start for Eugene. If he does, it might just be one or two more like that. And I think we’re gonna see him moving up and we could even see him in the big leagues this year. I mean, he’s been that good.”
While Whisenhunt started the year in San Jose, he’s made four starts for the Emeralds in Eugene where he’s posted a stunning 0.52 ERA and a 0.46 WHIP over 17.1 innings while striking out 24 batters.
Baggarly also said that in talking to Farhan Zaidi, the Giants don’t believe Harrison is ready yet. They will, he believes, look less at Harrison’s aggregate numbers and more at his ability to string together great pitching performances. It sounds like there’s a chance, though, that Whisenhunt could get to the majors before him.
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