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Prior to opening a series against the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night, the San Francisco Giants made a very surprising, but very exciting move, calling up fast-moving outfielder Wade Meckler from AAA Sacramento.
The news was first reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
The San Francisco Giants are calling up outfielder Wade Meckler, sources tell ESPN. He started the year in High-A and this will be his fourth stop. He was an eighth-round pick in 2022 and is just the fourth player to make the big leagues, with the three others Los Angeles Angels.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) August 14, 2023
To make room on the 40-man roster for Meckler, the Giants are designating outfielder Luis González for assignment. That news comes courtesy of The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly. No corresponding active roster move has been announced but, unless there’s an injury, the logical conclusion is that Luis Matos has been optioned or Austin Slater has been placed on the Injured List.
Meckler has had one of the fastest rises in recent Minor League history. Not just for the Giants, but for all of baseball.
An 8th-round pick (No. 256 overall) just 13 months ago, Meckler had just 50 plate appearances in the Arizona Complex League last year after getting drafted, before being promoted to Low-A San Jose, where he had 50 more plate appearances before the season ended. He started 2023 — his first full season — in High-A Eugene, where he had just 87 plate appearances before getting promoted to AA Richmond. He had his longest stint there, by far, at 174 plate appearances, before the promotion to AAA Sacramento. He’s had just 33 plate appearances in 10 games there before the Giants decided it was time to see if he can spark the outfield.
If you’re doing the math, that’s 394 plate appearances before the Majors. That’s fewer plate appearances than LaMonte Wade Jr., Michael Conforto, and J.D. Davis have in the Majors this year.
Unreal.
Meckler has been a hits machine. Across three levels this year, he’s hitting .379/.463/.522, while playing quality defense across the outfield and rarely striking out. If Meckler plays well, the Giants outfield will get very interesting. Michael Conforto is heating up, Heliot Ramos was excellent this weekend, Matos remains an exceptional prospect, Slater is a platoon hitter extraordinaire, Mike Yastrzemski is due to return any day, and Mitch Haniger isn’t far off.
Update: Yastrzemski has reportedly suffered an injury setback.
Welcome to the show, Wade.
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