Friday BP: Promotion day!

Happy Friday, San Francisco Giants fans.

After four long days, Giants baseball is back! The All-Star Game is in the rearview mirror, as is the 2023 MLB Draft. Now it’s just time for the final 72 games of the season, and hopefully some playoffs.

The Giants used Thursday to make a slew of Minor League Baseball promotions. The timing is understandable. The Minors were also on a break, so it’s a smart time to move players to new environments. And perhaps more importantly, the team drafted 21 players during the week, and many of them will make their professional debuts in the coming weeks. They’ll do so in the Arizona Complex League and perhaps Low-A, meaning some players need to move up to open up spots below.

Two players highlighted the list of promotions. Two-way player Reggie Crawford, the team’s first-round pick in 2022, is heading to High-A Eugene. Crawford has only thrown 11 innings and taken 39 plate appearances as a pro, and the Giants will slow play him for the rest of the season. But they’ll do so against better competition now. And right-handed pitcher Mason Black, a third-round pick in 2021, is making the leap to AAA. Black has been borderline unhittable for his last six starts, which included throwing five perfect innings in his first appearance after being named the Eastern League Pitcher of the Month. He’s one of the top pitcher prospects in the organization.

A large group of players is joining Crawford in making the move from Low-A to High-A: lefty Hayden Wynja (undrafted in 2022), second baseman/third baseman/catcher Thomas Gavello (13th round in 2022), outfielder/first baseman Matt Higgins (undrafted in 2022), and righty Daniel Blair (undrafted in 2022). Lefty John Bertrand, a 10th-round pick in 2022, is jumping from High-A to AA.

There are probably more such moves, but these are the ones that have been announced as of me writing this article on Thursday night. Congrats to all on deserved promotions!!

What time do the Giants play today?

The Giants start the second half by visiting the Pittsburgh Pirates at 4:05 p.m. PT.