The Giants are planning to promote pitching prospect Matt Wilkinson for his major league debut, Jeff Passan of ESPN reports. Wilkinson, nicknamed “Tugboat,” is not on the 40-man roster and will thus need to have his contract selected from Triple-A Sacramento. San Francisco’s 40-man roster is full at the moment, but the Giants have multiple 60-day IL candidates.
Wilkinson, 23, was a 10th-round pick by the Guardians back in 2023. He came to the Giants — alongside a Competitive Balance draft pick (Round A) — in the May trade sending catcher Patrick Bailey to Cleveland. Wilkinson needed to be added to the 40-man roster ahead of November’s Rule 5 protection deadline anyhow, so he was a natural candidate for a late call to the majors this season.
That’s not to say the 6’1″, 250-pound southpaw didn’t earn this promotion. He’s pitched well overall, working to a combined 3.40 ERA with a 27.2% strikeout rate, 8.8% walk rate and 36.4% ground-ball rate in 20 starts (90 innings) between the Double-A and Triple-A levels. Wilkinson was hit hard in two of his 10 Triple-A starts, surrendering six runs apiece and inflating his ERA at the top minor league level to 5.15, but he’s generally been solid outside those two appearances and recently fired his best start of the season, tossing seven shutout frames with nine strikeouts early this month.
Baseball America ranked Wilkinson 29th in the Giants’ system. He’s not ranked at MLB.com but is listed as high as 14th among Giants farmhands over at FanGraphs. He sits 90 mph with his four-seamer and complements that pitch with a slider, cutter and changeup that has lagged behind his other secondary pitches. BA’s scouting report on the big lefty touts plus command as a means of offsetting the lack of a real plus offering.
Wilkinson profiles as a back-of-the-rotation starter with a smattering of average-ish pitches and could have a future in the bullpen if the Giants’ system can produce some starters from the group of arms ranked ahead of him (e.g. Jackson Flora, Jacob Bresnahan, Carson Whisenhunt, Ramon Marquez, Henry Lalane).
