Report: Giants set to call up top pitching prospect Kyle Harrison for MLB debut

With their starting rotation in shambles and eight losses in their last 10 games putting their Wild Card hopes in jeopardy, the San Francisco Giants may be firing the biggest bullet they have left in the chamber: Left-handed pitcher Kyle Harrison, the team’s top prospect and one of the most electric arms in the Minors, is reportedly set to get the call to the Majors. Per multiple reports, the Giants are planning on having Harrison start Tuesday against the Phillies in Philadelphia.

This move has been rumored for weeks now, as the Giants slowly slid down the NL standings and injuries to Anthony DeSclafani and Ross Stripling have forced them to use multiple bullpen games a week just to piece things together. San Francisco doesn’t have much of anyone it can rely on behind Logan Webb and Alex Cobb — they sit in the bottom third in the Majors in starter’s ERA since August 1 — and while they enter Sunday still occupying the second NL Wild Card spot, that position has become increasingly tenuous amid this recent swoon; they’re now just a half-game up on the Cubs and Reds and one game up on the Diamondbacks.

Harrison may not fix everything that ails the Giants, but he should be a much-needed shot in the arm. The lefty, who came in at No. 20 in MLB PIpeline’s most recent top-100 list, hasn’t thrown more than 60 pitches in a game since June, so it doesn’t seem as though he’ll slot in as a full-fledged starter. He’s more likely to serve in a piggyback capacity on Tuesday, perhaps not throwing more than three or four innings — the same role that Jakob Junis, Alex Wood, Sean Manaea and others have served for San Francisco this season.

Were it not for an injury that knocked him out for most of the month of July, Harrison likely would’ve already reached the Majors by now. The former third-round pick in the 2020 draft has rocketed through the Minors on the back of a downright wicked fastball/slider combination from a low three-quarters arm slot — it almost looks reminiscent of Chris Sale at times — and when he’s on, that stuff makes him more or less untouchable. Harrison has posted a tremendous 35.6% strikeout rate over 67.2 innings at Triple-A this season. Of course, “when he’s on” is the big caveat: Harrison’s lack of control is a big red flag, as he’s paired that K rate with a 16.3% walk rate, inflating his ERA to 4.52 in 2023 and limiting his ability to work deep into games.

Still, Harrison has as much upside as any pitcher in the Minors, and he’ll be coming to a team that’s uniquely positioned to manage him in a hybrid multi-inning role. At this point, the Giants were running out of healthy bodies to pitch several innings at a time, and if Harrison can harness his electric left arm, he should at the very least be able to help San Francisco patch things together until they get some better health.