San Francisco Giants Top Pitching Prospect Has Re-Tooled His Already Lethal Arsenal

The San Francisco Giants have a very special pitcher coming up the ranks.

Jul 8, 2023; Seattle, Washington, USA; National League Futures relief pitcher Carson Whisenhunt (18) of the San Francisco Giants pitches to the American League during the third inning of the All Star-Futures game at T-Mobile Park / Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

The San Francisco Giants do not have what anyone would consider to be an elite farm system, instead boasting a relatively thin group of prospects.

That lack of high-end talent coming up the ranks like some of their counterparts have has impacted the strategy of the Giants in the previous few winters, preventing them from being involved with the top-of-the-market trade candidates because they can't part with the one or two elite prospects they have in place.

On offense, it's no secret the organization is banking on first baseman Bryce Eldridge to be the future face of the franchise.

But while San Francisco has some young arms already having reached the MLB level, there's no question who the farm system is built around when it comes to pitching.

The top prospect at any level in the pitching department is left-hander Carson Whisenhunt.

Since Whisenhunt's ascension to the Triple-A level last season, the ERA numbers have started to rise as he has begun to face better hitting and countless future pros. This is nothing out of the ordinary in the Pacific League, however, and the team is encouraged by the 24-year-old's ability to make hitters swing and miss to rack up strikeouts.

In 109.2 innings thrown over 27 starts in 2024, Whisenhunt fanned 141 hitters, maintaining and developing the kind of stuff which is going to be nasty at the next level.

Seemingly on the cusp of cracking the big league roster at some point this year, Whisenhunt has re-tooled his already deadly repertoire this offseason, changing out his shaky curveball for a slider as his third pitch to group with his great fastball and elite changeup.

"The changeup has been a key to my entire arsenal, but the big thing we talked about at the end of last year was, let's find a good third pitch because the curve wasn't consistent enough," Whisenhunt said via Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. "We went to the slider and I'm consistent with it. I feel good enough right now to where I can throw it and save the changeup for later in counts or in games."

The former East Carolina standout was a second round selection in the 2022 MLB draft, but it became apparent quickly the Giants may have gotten a steal.

After dominating Low-A, High-A and Double-A during the 2023 season, Whisenhunt handled the step up in competition at Triple-A Sacramento exactly how the team expected him to.

With an influx of talented young arms throughout the organization, he is not going to be asked to make his MLB debut before he's ready.

In fact quite the contrary, and he may be chomping at the bit when carving up Triple-A hitters before San Francisco decides his moment has arrived.

Keep an eye on Whisenhunt early on this season, because there's a good chance his debut comes much sooner rather than later.

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