Giants Baseball Insider

This San Francisco Giants Pitcher Could Be Future Ace of Their Rotation

The San Francisco Giants have a history of good pitchers and it seems like they have another young stud on the rise.

Cameron Zunkel

Aug 19, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants pitcher Kyle Harrison (45) throws a pitch during the first inning against the Chicago White Sox at Oracle Park.
Aug 19, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants pitcher Kyle Harrison (45) throws a pitch during the first inning against the Chicago White Sox at Oracle Park. / Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images
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The San Francisco Giants have a history of great pitchers.

Madison Bumgarner, Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain are just a few of the names on the list.

Kyle Harrison could be the next pitcher to join those ranks.

As it stands right now, the Giants top three pitchers in the rotation seem set. Logan Webb has been the ace and workhorse on the team for a few years now. The Giants will also be getting a hopefully healthy Robbie Ray in 2025. Along with that, San Francisco signed Justin Verlander this offseason. That leaves two spots in the rotation up for grabs.

One of them will almost certainly go to Harrison.

The left-handed pitcher enjoyed a solid rookie campaign in 2024. He made 24 starts, threw 124.1 innings and finished with a 4.56 ERA.

Harrison had two months last year where he showed how good he can be.

The 2020 third round pick made six starts across June and July. In those outings, the southpaw threw 32.2 innings, allowed 23 hits, struck out 30 batters and had a 2.76 ERA.

Harrison has an average fastball velocity of 92.5 mph, so he doesn't have overpowering stuff. However, his fastball run value ranked in the 79th percentile in the MLB.

Additionally, he throws a slurve that can become a nasty pitch when it is on.

Despite his success, Harrison had flaws.

The rookie couldn't generate a lot of chases out of the zone, his strikeout rate was low and his barrel percentage was in the 10th percentile in the MLB.

Harrison's analytics show that he should not have had a great season.

His Major League numbers do not reflect how good he really is, though.

In his three minor league seasons, the high school draftee finished with 452 strikeouts in 279.1 innings pitched. Furthermore, he allowed opponents to hit bat just .212 off him while allowing only 26 home runs among those three seasons.

The 23-year-old has to find a way to replicate his minor league numbers in the bigs. Luckily for him, he pitches in a relatively pitcher-friendly ball park.

Oracle Park had the fifth-lowest park factor in the past three years. Along with that, San Francisco ranked as one of the hardest stadiums to hit a home run in.

Harrison showed a lot of potential in his first full season at the big league level.

If he can clean up some of his numbers, Harrison will be the ace of this rotation in the future.

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Cameron Zunkel
CAMERON ZUNKEL

Cameron Zunkel is a sports writer from the western suburbs of Chicago. He played Division-II baseball at the University of Illinois at Springfield where he earned a masters degree in Communication. Cameron also played independent league baseball for the Joliet Slammers and Schaumburg Boomers of the Frontier League. He has been in journalism since 2022 and has a passion for baseball specifically, but he enjoys all sports. His other work includes writing sports betting articles for ClutchPoints. In his free time, you can catch Cam at the gym, on the golf course, or coaching the youth in the beautiful sport of baseball.

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