SF Giants: Prospect acquired in Darin Ruf trade strikes out 13 at High-A Eugene
The SF Giants were already quite happy with the early returns to the Darin Ruf trade. While it surely hurt to unload one of the best bats in their lineup, San Francisco recouped four players from the Mets in the deal. Third baseman J.D. Davis has highlighted the package thus far, batting .268/.359/.518 with 4 home runs in 21 games since joining the Giants. Southpaw Thomas Szapucki has also reached the big-league roster as a left-handed reliever and has a 2.25 ERA with 7 strikeouts in 4 innings pitched (3 appearances).
However, the Giants also acquired two pitching prospects in the deal who they assigned to their High-A Eugene affiliate: southpaw Nick Zwack and righty Carson Seymour. On Wednesday, Seymour took the mound for the Emeralds and arguably had the best outing of the season for any pitcher in the Giants' minor-league system.
Seymour struck out 13 batters across 6.1 innings pitched, allowing just 1 run on 2 hits and a walk. The Poway, California native simply dominated. Making the outing even more impressive, he only needed 84 pitches to work into the seventh inning. It's rare to see someone show so much efficiency while racking up double-digit punchouts.
Seymour was drafted in the sixth round of the 2021 MLB Draft by the Mets out of Kansas State. Seymour struggled to find consistency throughout his college career, although he consistently faired better in competitive summer league environments.
A big 6'6'' righty, Seymour has a powerful arm with a fastball that has reached 98 mph alongside a cutter, changeup, and a true 12-6 curveball. On Wednesday, Seymour's curve was his putaway pitch, although it seemed at times that he was manipulating the grip for it to play with sharper 10-7 movement at times. Either way, Everett AquaSox hitters were overmatched.
Seymour consistently got ahead in the count with his versatile pitch mix and put batters away with his curve. He induced a career-high 22 swinging strikes, meaning 26.2% of his pitches resulted in opposing whiffs.
The SF Giants farm system has underperformed expectations this season, but deadline acquisition Carson Seymour is helping solidify San Francisco's minor-league depth with an impressive close to the season.
After his fantastic performance on Wednesday, Seymour now has a 3.70 ERA in 5 starts since joining the Emeralds with 38 strikeouts and 8 walks across 24.1 innings pitched. On the season, which includes 7 early-season appearances at Single-A, Seymour has a 2.97 ERA with 130 strikeouts and 29 walks in 106 innings pitched (23 appearances).
