Giants trade for A’s OF Cal Stevenson

In a still-rare but perhaps becoming less rare situation, the San Francisco Giants have made a trade with the Oakland A’s, this time getting left-handed outfielder Cal Stevenson for cash considerations.

Last time, it was Skye Bolt going from the Giants to the A’s after the Giants had claimed him off waivers from the A’s, now it’s Stevenson being traded directly from the A’s. Enough about the history between these two teams, though, let’s look at the player.

Stevenson is a 26-year old from Fremont who was on the same Arizona Wildcats team as Mets starter Tylor Megill, whom the Giants will face in this upcoming series. He hit .323/.432/.439 in three college seasons with just five home runs, but why Zaidi grabbed him is the 110:73 walks to strikeout ratio there which has carried over to his five minor league seasons with 240 walks to 224 strikeouts, along with 22 home runs and a batting line of .294/.409/.420.

The Blue Jays drafted Stevenson in the 10th round of the 2018 draft before trading him to the Astros at the 2019 deadline for Derek Fisher. The Astros traded him to the Rays in 2020 before the COVID shutdown for RHP Austin Pruitt. The A’s acquired him last July along with RHP Christian Fernandez in exchange for C Christian Bethancourt.

About a month after acquiring him, the A’s called him up and he got into 23 games, hitting just .167/.261/.217 in 71 PA with a stolen base. This year, in seven Triple-A games, he hit .348/.483/.435. The A’s designated him for assignment last week to make room for Tyler Wade.

Here he is making a nice catch in Spring Training as a left fielder.

Baseball Reference tells me he’s played most of his games the past two seasons in center field and that’s where I’d imagine the Giants would use him, too. Definitely think of him as another depth piece, of course. The Giants have since optioned Stevenson to the River Cats but we might just see him in San Francisco this weekend. His ex-teammate Megill would be up for his turn in New York’s rotation for Sunday’s game.

To make room for Stevenson, the Giants designated Sam Long for assignment. After a really surprising start to last season, Long’s stock has dropped like an elevator down a shaft after its cable snapped. In 10 Triple-A innings this year, he’s allowed 11 earned runs (9.90 ERA) and 14 hits.