SAN FRANCISCO – San Francisco Giants general manager Zack Minasian has been impressed with the seasons Kyle Harrison and Carson Whisenhunt have had thus far in Triple-A Sacramento.
If both pitchers keep it up, they could force the Giants’ front office into making a tough decision about bringing them to the big leagues. Minasian would like nothing more.
“I’ve said this before, I’ll probably always say this: I hope (Harrison and Whisenhunt) put a lot of pressure on us. I really do,” Minasian said on KNBR on Thursday morning. “It’s a good problem to have, and really happy with how those two have progressed, along with some other players throughout the system.”
Harrison struck out seven with no walks and allowed just one earned run over five innings in Sacramento’s 16-6 loss to Reno on Wednesday night at Sutter Health Park. Of his 80 pitches, 55 were strikes, with his fastball touching 96-97 mph.
Whisenhunt was slated to pitch Thursday night. He entered the game 2-2 with a 5.09 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 23 innings.
“(Harrison and Whisenhunt) have thrown really well,” Minasian said. “I think Whisenhunt’s fastball is in a really good place. He’s throwing hard. It’s lively. He’s got a pretty devastating change-up.
“(Harrison), great to see the velo. But even on top of that, just the execution, and we’re fortunate to have talented pitchers like this at Triple-A. Give those two a lot of credit.”
Harrison made 24 starts for the Giants last year and was a candidate to be the Giants’ fifth starter to begin the season. But the left-hander lost ground as an illness he had right before the start of camp caused him to lose between 10 and 15 pounds. He was optioned on March 22.
Landen Roupp won the job as the fifth starter and is 4-2 this season. But he has struggled in his last two starts, with his ERA rising from 3.21 on April 19 to 3.88 after the Giants’ 5-3 loss to the San Diego Padres on Wednesday.
Against the Padres, Roupp allowed four earned runs on seven hits and walked three over 4 1/3 innings.
“Just not crisp,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said of Roupp’s day. “Three walks, seven hits, so there was some traffic there, in four-plus. … Landen just didn’t have his best game.”
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Roupp’s next turn in the Giants’ rotation would be Monday in Chicago against the Cubs. San Francisco (19-12) starts a four-game series against the MLB-worst Colorado Rockies at home on Thursday.
For the season in Triple-A, Harrison, a San Jose native and De La Salle High School alum, is 1-0 with 38 strikeouts and a 3.46 ERA over 26.0 innings.
“For Kyle to go to Triple-A this year after spending the entire season in the big leagues, and just continue to improve, says a lot about who he is and who he wants to be,” Minasian said.
