The skinny on Scooter Gennett and the seven other players San Francisco acquired Wednesday.
Here’s a rundown of the Giants’ acquisitions Wednesday: Giants get: Second baseman Scooter Gennett Reds get: Player to be named (or cash) The skinny on Gennett: He has struggled this season, after missing three months with a strained right groin and hitting .212 in 66 atbats since returning June 28. But Gennett, a lefthanded hitter, brings a strong track record.
He’s one season removed from hitting .310 with 23 home runs and 92 RBIs, and making the National League AllStar team. The year before, in 2017, Gennett hit .295 and posted career highs with 27 homers (including four in one game) and 97 RBIs.
You think the Giants could use that kind of production?
Gennett, 29, will become a free agent after this season, so he might not offer a longterm solution at second base. Oh, and by the way: His full name is Ryan Joseph Gennett. He chose his nickname from “Muppet Babies” as a kid, and it stuck. Giants get: Infielder Mauricio Dubon Brewers get: Pitchers Drew Pomeranz and Ray Black The skinny on Dubon: He’s ranked as the thirdbest (MLB Pipeline) or fourthbest prospect (Baseball America) in Milwaukee’s system. Put another way, he could become Wednesday’s splashiest acquisition.
Dubon is a 25yearold second baseman and shortstop with pop in his bat and a compelling back story. Dubon was hitting .297 this season at TripleA San Antonio, with 16 home runs, 47 RBIs and an .809 OPS.
The Brewers called him up for six days this month. He went hitless in two atbats, including a strikeout against Giants pitcher Shaun Anderson on July 12.
That brief stint made Dubon the first majorleague player from Honduras. He moved to the U.S. at age 15, knowing little English but determined to chase his baseball dreams in an unfamiliar country.
Dubon grew close to his host family in Sacramento, where he attended Capital Christian High School (the Red Sox selected him in the 26th round of the 2013 draft). So this trade marks a return to Northern California for Dubon.
Worth noting: Dubon played in only 27 TripleA games last year because of a torn ACL. But he seems to have fully recovered, based on his numbers at San Antonio. Giants get: Pitchers Tristan Beck and Dan Winkler Braves get: Reliever Mark Melancon The skinny on Beck: A lanky righthanded reliever, listed at 6foot4 and 165 pounds, Beck posted a 5.65 ERA with 39 strikeouts in 362⁄3 innings this season for the Class AAdvanced Florida Fire Frogs.
Beck, 23, was considered a likely firstround pick from Corona High (Riverside County), but his stock dropped as it became clear he intended to enroll at Stanford.
Beck started for the Cardinal on Opening Day in 2016, joining Mike Mussina and Cal Quantrill as the only freshman pitchers to do so at Stanford. Despite missing 2017 with a stress fracture in his back, Beck went 149 with a 2.74 ERA and 1.13 WHIP in two seasons at Stanford. The Braves selected him in the fourth round of last year’s draft. The skinny on Winkler: The injuryriddled, 29yearold righthander could provide immediate bullpen help for the Giants, who traded three relievers at the deadline. Winkler, a 63, 205pounder, has struggled at both the bigleague and TripleA levels this season, as he reworks his mechanics to take stress off his elbow.
Winkler, drafted in the 20th round by Colorado in 2011, had Tommy John surgery in June 2014 and was acquired by Atlanta in the Rule 5 draft that year. He fractured his elbow in 2016 and is still trying to find his feel.
He had a 4.98 ERA and 1.34 WHIP for Atlanta before being optioned to TripleA Gwinnett last month. In TripleA, Winkler had similar numbers (4.86 ERA/2.10 WHIP). Giants get: Outfielder Jaylin Davis and pitchers Prelander Berroa and KaiWei Teng Twins get: Reliever Sam Dyson The skinny on Davis: Having fully recovered from a 2015 torn labrum in his right shoulder, Davis is finally showing his power potential this season. He has batted .298 with 25 home runs between Double and TripleA.
Davis, 25, probably would have been selected in the first five rounds from Appalachian State in 2015, but he fell to the 24th round after missing the season with the shoulder injury. After serving mostly as a designated hitter early in his professional career, Davis is showcasing a decent arm from the corner spots and maybe even the speed and arm to play center field. The skinny on Berroa: At 19, Berroa is already in his third professional season, and it’s his best one yet. The 511, 170pound righthander is 21 with a 4.55 ERA and 37 strikeouts in 312⁄3 innings for the Elizabethton Twins of the Gulf Coast League. The skinny on Teng: Off to a great start to his professional career since signing out of Taiwan in 2017, Teng had a 3.59 ERA and 47 strikeouts in 422⁄3 rookieleague innings last year. He has followed that by going 40 with a 1.60 ERA and 1.07 WHIP in Class A this season.
The 64, 260pound righthander first hit the scene in the Little League World Series. His fastball reaches the mid90s and he owns a latebreaking curveball as a secondary pitch. FanGraphs projects that Teng will enter the Giants’ farm system as one of the franchise’s top 20 prospects. Giants get: Outfielder/first baseman Joe McCarthy Rays get: Pitcher Jacob Lopez The skinny on McCarthy: Tampa Bay selected him in the fifth round in the 2015 amateur draft from the University of Virginia. McCarthy, who stands 63 and weighs 220 pounds, posted solid numbers in his first two full seasons in the minor leagues.
He has struggled the past two years, partly because of injuries. He hit .244 in three stops in 2018 and .196 in 41 games this season at TripleA Durham. McCarthy missed the first twoplus months of 2019 because of back issues.
He was widely regarded as close to majorleague ready before the back injury sidelined him.