Kyle Harrison is a big leaguer, and will take the mound for the Giants for the first time in Philadelphia.
Harrison’s impending debut has been in the plans for days, but is now official as the Giants added him to their 26-man (and 40-man) roster.
In corresponding roster moves, the Giants optioned Sean Hjelle and Heliot Ramos, while bringing rookie Ryan Walker back from the paternity list and placing Mark Mathias on the 60-day IL. It’s unclear exactly what injury Mathias suffered.
The headline, though, is Harrison. Since he was in seventh grade, the 22-year-old phenom had eyes on The Show. Harrison is regarded as the top left-handed pitching prospect in baseball.
In a season defined by development at the big league level while simultaneously contending for the playoffs, Harrison will be the 11th Giants rookie to debut this year.
Harrison will be tasked with getting through an explosive Phillies lineup that hung 10 runs on 16 hits against San Francisco in the series opener. He likely won’t be asked to go through their order much more than twice, as he’s only built up for about 60-75 pitches.
Since Harrison has only pitched five innings once this year in Triple-A, he doesn’t have too much mileage on his throwing arm. But he also will have to build up conditioning at the big-league level — that is, if the Giants decide he gives them the best chance at filling in their potential postseason rotation.
The Giants had to contort their roster a bit to make room for Harrison, and they’ll also have to clear a spot for the newly acquired Paul DeJong imminently.
San Francisco chose to option Hjelle — who preserved the rest of SF’s bullpen by mopping up Monday’s loss — and Ramos. The latter posted a .953 OPS in eight games since getting called up 11 days ago, but the Giants used him sparingly.
Based on their actions, the Giants are more confident in rookie Wade Meckler than Ramos, despite Ramos’ recent stretch. Meckler, a 2022 eighth rounder, has crushed minor league pitching at every level but has struggled to adjust so far to MLB pitchers, striking out in 13 of his 23 plate appearances.
In the series opener, Meckler committed an error and misplayed Bryce Harper’s inside-the-park homer in center field.
“It’s pretty obvious that he’s battling right now, battling in every capacity,” manager Gabe Kapler told reporters in Philadelphia Monday. “It’s obviously not good enough. Not helping us win baseball games. At the same time, this is when a coaching staff throws their support behind a young player.”
Here is the Giants’ lineup for Harrison’s debut:
LaMonte Wade Jr – 1B
Thairo Estrada – 2B
Wilmer Flores – DH
Joc Pederson – LF
Michael Conforto – RF
J.D. Davis – 3B
Patrick Bailey – C
Wade Meckler – CF
Casey Schmitt – SS
