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Can Giants' Wilkinson Remain on Roster?
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- Can Giants' Wilkinson Remain on Roster?
(© Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images)
Following a 65-97 season, their worst since 2017, the San Francisco Giants have a lot to figure out if they want to get back to being successful.
President of baseball operations Buster Posey must have realized that the season could not be salvaged when he went on to trade Luis Arraez, Heliot Ramos and Robbie Ray at the MLB Trade Deadline. The Giants still have veteran contributors on the roster, but it seems like there will be more of an emphasis on what the young players can do next season.
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One such youngster is left-hander Matt "Tugboat" Wilkinson.
What we know about Giants' Wilkinson
The 6-foot-1, 250-pound Wilkinson arrived in San Francisco in a May 9 trade that sent two-time Gold Glove catcher Patrick Bailey to the Cleveland Guardians .
Wilkinson, 23, had drawn attention as a minor-leaguer for his nickname and the highlights he put together. On Aug. 19, Wilkinson made his Major League Baseball debut with San Francisco.
By season's end, Wilkinson had appeared in eight games, six of which were starts, and he posted a 1-3 record with a 3.58 ERA and a 0.98 WHIP. Wilkinson had done enough in the minors to demonstrate to the Giants that he was worthy of a chance in The Show.
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What needs to happen
Wilkinson has demonstrated promise, but he is still a very young and raw talent.
Across his eight appearances, the hits he gave up (22) exceeded the strikeouts he logged (20), and he also gave up 11 earned runs (five home runs). The good news is that, given where the Giants' season was when Wilkinson made his debut, there was plenty of space for growth, trial and error.
Now, Wilkinson needs to have a developmental offseason if he wants to stay on the major-league roster.
According to his Baseball Savant profile, Wilkinson relies on a four-pitch arsenal, with a four-seam fastball making up 57% of his usage. However, the average speed of his heater is only 90.4 mph, which is below the left-handed average of 93.5 mph.
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In fact, the velocity of each of Wilkinson's pitch types falls below the average for left-handers. His next most-used pitch is a changeup, which he relies on 23% of the time and averages out at 83.9 mph, while the average for lefties throwing that pitch is 84.7 mph.
Wilkinson has demonstrated that his stuff is good enough to have a shot in San Francisco's rotation, but like many young players, he needs to keep improving to maintain his opportunity.
