Giants promote pitching prospect Keaton Winn

The Giants have recalled right-hander Keaton Winn from Triple-A Sacramento and optioned fellow righty Tristan Beck to Sacramento in his place, per a team announcement. It’ll be the MLB debut for Winn whenever he takes the hill.

San Francisco has Logan Webb, Alex Cobb and Anthony DeSclafani lined up to start their respective games Monday through Wednesday this week, so there’s no immediate opening in the rotation. However, the Giants went with multiple bullpen games this past weekend, so there’s a need for some long relief in the event that one of the current rotation members has a short start or departs with an injury. Winn, who’s operated primarily as a starter in the minors, can give them just that.

The 25-year-old has made a dozen appearances in Triple-A this year, all but three of them coming as a starter. The Giants have limited him on a per-outing basis, as Winn’s longest appearance of the season spanned just 4 1/3 frames and he has only 41 1/3 innings combined through those 12 outings. He’s pitched to a 4.35 ERA in that time, with a strong 27.1% strikeout rate and 50.9% ground-ball rate but an ugly 11.2% walk rate.

Baseball America ranks Winn 14th among Giants prospects, noting that he has a mid- to upper-90s heater, a newly adopted splitter and an average slider. There’s a chance for him to stick as a starter at the big league level.

Winn’s role in the short-term will likely be dependent on the health of his fellow pitchers and how late into the game they’re able to pitch in the coming days. He hasn’t pitched since June 4, so the Giants will surely want to get him some work sooner than later. 

Winn could be optioned back in the coming days if he’s called upon for a lengthy bullpen appearance and would be unavailable for a few days anyhow, but his first call to the big leagues puts him squarely on the radar when the team needs bullpen or rotation help moving forward.