Giants call up Thomas Szapucki

The San Francisco Giants trade that sent Darin Ruf to the New York Mets may have hurt from a sentimental standpoint, but it’s already looking good from a baseball standpoint. The Giants received J.D. Davis in the trade, and Davis has already hit three home runs in seven games, while being significantly younger than Ruf, and having an extra year of team control.

But the Giants got more than just Davis in the trade, as the Mets also sent three intriguing prospects San Francisco’s way. And one of those prospects is about to make his Giants debut, as the team announced on Friday that it had called up left-handed pitcher Thomas Szapucki ahead of Friday’s start to their series against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

To make room on the roster, right-handed pitcher Yunior Marte was optioned.

Szapucki, a 26 year old who is the team’s No. 27 prospect according to Fangraphs, has been having a stellar year in AAA. While with the Mets affiliate this year, where he worked as a starter, Szapucki — who has an excellent curveball — had a 3.38 ERA and a 3.35 FIP, with 87 strikeouts to 29 walks in 64 innings. He’s appeared in three games with the AAA Sacramento River Cats, all out of the bullpen, since joining the Giants organization.

Whenever he gets into a game, it won’t be his MLB debut. That came last year, when he played in exactly one game. He also played in exactly one game this year ... which came against the Giants on May 25. The Giants will hope that he can help them now as much as he helped them that day, as he allowed nine Giants runs in just 1.1 innings ... and gave up home runs to Joc Pederson, Mike Yastrzemski, and Evan Longoria twice.

When Szapucki gets into a game, he’ll become the 55th player to take the field for the Giants this year.