Minutes ago, the San Francisco Giants announced that they have acquired outfielder Joey Wiemer from the Miami Marlins for cash considerations.
The 6’4”, 226-pound right handed hitter was drafted out of
the University of Cincinnati in the 4th round of the 2020 draft by the Milwaukee Brewers and made his major league debut for them in 2023. He played 132 games, had 410 plate appearances and slashed .204/.283/.362 (.645 OPS) with 13 home runs, 19 doubles, and 11 stolen bases in 15 chances. He walked 36 times (8.8 BB%) and struck out 116 times (28.3 K%). They’d trade him the following season along with Jakob Junis for Cincinnati’s Frankie Montas; then, in the 2024-2025 offseason, the Reds flipped him to the Royals along with Jonathan India in exchange for Brady Singer.
He never got to the majors for the Royals and they waived him soon after this year’s trade deadline. The Marlins claimed him and stashed him at Triple-A for a couple of weeks before promoting him. He got into 27 games and had 61 plate appearances, slashing .236/.279/.436 (.715) with 3 homers, 2 doubles, and a really, truly bad K:BB of 23 strikeouts to 2 walks. Statcast likes the thunder in his bat, though, with favorable expected slugging, average exit velocity, barrel & hard hit rates this past season in, admittedly, a very limited sample.
Baseball Reference has him listed as a centerfielder, and that’s what jumped out to me. In 2023, he rated as +10 Outs Above Average in Milwaukee’s outfield, with half of that value coming in center. The Marlins only used him in a corner this past season, but he still rated +3 OAA in, again, a very limited sample. Statcast also rates his arm strength as well above average (86th percentile) and his sprint speed is very good, too (76th percentile). He did play center in the minors in 2025 and the only reason the Marlins didn’t play him there is, I suppose, because Derek Hill and Dane Myers were preferred there. But! He seems like he’d be an interesting guy to try at Oracle.
He’ll turn 27 in February, so this might be the last season where he’s really in his physical prime or platformed to be an elite defender in center. I doubt he could be considered a poor man’s Harrison Bader, but, between Wiemer and the previously acquired Justin Dean, I’d say the Giants are focusing on improving the outfield defense through raw athleticism. Neithe player is a high contact guy, but they do add speed and defense and maybe just enough bat-to-ball to make the bad, but not totally disastrous swing-and-miss worth the tradeoff in the near-term.
He’ll make the major league minimum in 2026, but he’s out of major league options. To make room for him on the 40-man roster, backup catcher Andrew Knizner — who was eligible for salary arbitration (the tender deadline of which is today) — was designated for assignment.
