Given the injury risk inherent in the big league rotation and the evergreen need for quality pitching, there is little doubt that a healthy Harrison will make his MLB debut this season. While he will be in big league camp this spring, Harrison is slated to join the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats starting rotation to open the season. Harrison ended the 2022 season ranked as the top ranked LHP prospect in all of baseball by MLB Pipeline. For the first time in nearly a decade, the Giants may be able to pair Harrison atop the rotation with Logan Webb to form their first pair of homegrown aces since the days of Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, and Madison Bumgarner. The Giants Championship era rosters all relied on homegrown frontline starters to carry them to and through October. ( ) = fantasy relevance assuming a minimum of 5 Minors slots Tier 1 Levels listed for each player are the highest-level player reached middle reliever, low-ceiling UT guys) Tier 5: Players of interest, worth keeping an eye on, who have an outside chance of making a team’s 40-man roster. Prospects1500 Tiers: Tier 1: Players with high expectations of both making the majors and playing at an All-Star level for a number of years Tier 2: Players with an above-average expectation of making the majors and being a solid contributor Tier 3: Players with an average expectation of making the majors and being a solid contributor Tier 4: Players who have the potential of making the majors, or have a high likelihood of making the majors, but provide minimal impact (e.g. San Francisco Giants Affiliates: Triple-A – Sacramento River Cats ( Double-A – Richmond Flying Squirrels( High-A – Eugene Emeralds ( Single-A – San Jose Giants ( Rookie ACL – Giants Orange Rookie ACL – Giants Black Rookie DSL – Giants Orange Rookie DSL – Giants Black All this to say, the opportunities for the farm may be more limited this season, which is ironic because this season is likely the closest it’s been to producing players capable of making an impact at the major league level since Zaidi arrived. On the pitching side, the Opening Day bullpen looks nearly set, with only one spot expected to be open to competition. The position player side of the roster is so set that Zaidi is heading into Spring Training with only one actual catcher on the 40-man roster. While in years past Zaidi has been extremely aggressive with roster churn (he set a club record for players used in 2019 with 64), the Giants eclipsed that mark in 2022 by using 66 players. This upcoming season looks to be a unique one for the Giants, as this is probably the most settled the big league club’s 28-man roster has been since 2018. Now with Putila on board and the bulk of the organizational talent ready to make its move to Double-A this season, the player development pipeline not only looks ready to start producing, but very well on the cusp of producing a number of impact every day players as soon as late this season. In spite of the lost 2020 pandemic season and the 2021 owner-lockout, the farm system took a step forward last year with a number of players putting together great minor league seasons. To kickoff the 2023 season, Zaidi brought Pete Putila on board from the Houston Astros to replace the departing Scott Harris as General Manager, a move that will no doubt be applauded by Giants fans since Putila’s baseball background is specifically in player development. There may be some debate about what he has accomplished with the major league roster, even after a historic 107 win season, but there is no question that the farm system is significantly stronger today than it was when Zaidi took on the President of Baseball Operations role. As the fifth year of the Farhan Zaidi Era dawns in San Francisco, there has been much consternation among a certain segment of the fanbase about whether the organization is actually better off today than it was when Zaidi took over in November 2018.
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