It’s the time in the season where bad teams, such as the San Francisco Giants, shift their focus from winning games to trying out new talents, and seeing who can stick. We’ve already seen a pair of MLB debuts in the last week, and now we’re getting a third. On Friday, ahead of their series opener against the Detroit Tigers, the Giants announced that they had purchased the contract of AAA Sacramento right-hander Trent Harris. The corresponding move was to option righty Tristan Beck to Sacramento.
The Giants did not have a full 40-man roster, so no corresponding move was necessary there.
Harris has been an amazing story since joining the Giants organization. He’s one of many thriving players in the system (including two of their top hitting prospects, Bo Davidson and Parks Harber) who went undrafted. The 27-year old righty signed after the 2023 draft, and flew up the system thanks to a dazzling array of strikeouts and control. In 2023 and 2024, as he rose from the Complex League to AA, Harris worked as a reliever and registered 138 strikeouts against just 28 walks in 100.2 innings.
He ran into some trouble in the upper minors, as happens. In AAA last year, he began to abandon his trademark curveball, and the results were quite poor. In 41.1 innings with Sacramento in 2026, he had a 5.44 ERA and a 4.69 FIP, with less than a strikeout per inning. This season started out similarly, with Harris having early-season struggles. He then turned things on in a big way, and has lowered his ERA all the way down to 3.12 (with a 4.25 FIP), while striking out 11.6 batters per nine innings.
Interestingly, the Giants recently started putting Harris in a starting role, and he’s been thriving. In three games since joining Sacramento’s rotation, Harris has pitched 10 innings and allowed just four hits, one walk, and zero runs, with 17 strikeouts. He’s not fully stretched out, so he’s probably not yet the answer to who will be the fifth starter in San Francisco’s rotation, but I would expect that we see him in a bulk innings role, perhaps as early as tonight (he hasn’t pitched in a week, so he’s fresh).
Thanks to his curveball, Harris does a tremendous job of freezing hitters. He’s 91st percentile in AAA in in-zone swing rate, and 81st percentile in strike rate.
Harris is a four-pitch pitcher, as he consistently relies on a cutter (which averages 93.3 mph), slider, sinker, and curveball. In AAA this year, opponents have an expected batting average of .159 on his curveball, with an expected slugging percentage of .185, and a staggering 42.5% whiff rate. It’s a sensational pitch.
Welcome to the big leagues, Trent! Can’t wait to watch you.
