Giants make insanely AGGRESSIVE move...

The San Francisco Giants just made two very intriguing moves. One of them extremely aggressive and the other one on the more expected side. We're going to break both of those down here on SF Giants Digest. If you're new here, welcome to the channel. I am your host Michael Monreal and if you've been here before, welcome back to SF Giants Digest. We are so glad you found your way back to the channel. Now before we get into today's video, let me know what you thought of yesterday's game against the Diamondbacks. Also, if you haven't yet, make sure to go down below, hit that like button, and hit that subscribe button. About 75% of you guys watching the videos are not actually subscribed to the channel. It's completely free, takes just a second of your time, and really does help us continue to be the best Giants content and analysis on YouTube. So if you enjoyed today's breakdown, go down below, hit that like button, hit that subscribe button. That'd be much appreciated by myself and everyone here at Digest Media. Now, getting into today's video. It's that time of the year for the Giants. We're going to see extremely intriguing names, names we would have never thought we'd see, if the Giants were anywhere close to 500 baseball. But obviously, that has not been the case all season long and we're getting some of the more extreme call-ups across the last month of the season. That is no different from news we got yesterday. This comes from Justice De Los Santos, who was on the channel yesterday in one of our episodes. Make sure to go check that out after this video. But he started by saying, Junior Marte, who the Giants acquired in the Mikey Stremski trade, is here and just went through drills with the relievers. No roster moves announced. And I can confirm that there has not been a roster move announced yet, but I believe that Junior Marte is here for the doubleheader taking place today. Game one at one and then game two around 7-15, I think. So the Giants are going to need arms for two games today, especially with how thin the rotation is and how thin the pitching staff has been for a few weeks at this point. So they make a very big move calling up a guy in Junior Marte who has not pitched above double A. He's coming straight from double A, similar to what we saw from Jonah Cox earlier this season. Now he, a few, just a few minutes after that original tweet, he said, Matt Wilkinson and Junior Marte, excuse me, are both here. They'll wait until postgame to finalize their plans for tomorrow. And it now has been confirmed that Matt Wilkinson will start game one. And I don't know if Junior Marte is going to start game two, if he's going to be used out of the bullpen, but he has virtually exclusively started in games in the minor leagues. So I'm really interested to see what they do with Marte later today. Now we're going to start with Marte because he is a newer face to the Giants' farm system. We don't know a ton about him. He did come from many Kansas City Royals seasons mixed in there. But this year he's having a really strong year in 2026 over high A and double A, a 3.85 ERA striking out 9.45 hitters per nine, walking 3.43 hitters per nine. He has a 4.03 FIP at 22 games, 20 games started, 107.2 innings. And that game started is where I get really intrigued because obviously the Giants need bodies in that starting rotation. It's crazy because over the last few years, the Giants fed a ton of depth in that spot. Obviously the Blade Tidwells of the world, the Carson Woodson hunts, who's now going under the knife, but the Trevor McDonald's, the guys like that, they don't have that anymore. They don't have that much depth in the starting rotation. So they're going to need bodies. And I'm guessing Junior Marte is here to fill that role. Now, the one reason that makes this promotion a little bit less surprising is the fact that Marte is rule five eligible this year. And I think he is a name that the Giants would want to protect. So he's not taken by another organization because he is a really talented arm when he's going right. He's had some really, really strong outings this year, you know, 10 strikeout outings, stuff like that. So he is a really talented arm and the Giants did value him, obviously coming from that Mike Yastrzemski trade. And it does seem like the Giants did win that trade because the Royals didn't do anything last year after acquiring Mike Yastrzemski and Marte is now in the big leagues, you know, maybe proving to be a future piece for them, who knows? A lot remains to be seen. Now, just going a little bit off of his prospect profile, Marte has a fastball with a 60 grade, a 50 grade slider, 50 grade splitter. His control is right at 50 as well. Overall, a 40 future value. Now, Marte's fastball has added velocity this season, sitting at 94 to 97 and touching 100 with carry and arm side run. His tight mid 80 slider locks up righties but isn't as effective against lefties. He uses a mid 80 splitter as his primary secondary pitch versus left handers and is gaining more aptitude for the pitch as he throws it more often. His six foot frame creates some natural extension in his delivery. The San Francisco Giants absolutely love, love, love their pitchers, especially their young pitchers with good extension. He repeats his mechanics well enough to provide consistent strikes, but he'll need to improve the command of all three of his offerings to succeed as a starter. As I mentioned, he'll be eligible for the Rule 5 draft following this season, so San Francisco may try to expedite his development a bit. And it seems like that's what they're doing because this promotion is extremely, extremely aggressive. Now, that's not the only move I mentioned. Matt Wilkinson also with the Giants currently, and he's also had a really strong year in the minor leagues. I mean, we've covered him significantly more, but in the big leagues so far, a 6-3-5 ERA in five and two third innings pitch that's in two starts, striking out just 3.1 hitters per nine innings. And he hasn't struck out a lot of guys. There's no denying that, but I think there is more of that to come. He was not commanding his stuff the best in his first two outings. And in his second outing where he went three and two thirds, allowed four earned runs, I thought he pitched significantly better than that line. He was really close to going four innings of two-run ball if that ball didn't hit off the wall and Barracuda caught it. So I think he's pitched significantly better than this line would offer. And yes, his future may be in the bullpen. His future may be as a long reliever with the San Francisco Giants, but I still think Wilkinson can really force himself into the picture for the future of the San Francisco Giants if he throws decent enough over the last month. The Giants have no options on their staff. Wilkinson is going to get a look simply because of that reason. So whether it's three innings out of the pen after a righty, whether he's opening for a righty out of the pen, who knows what it will be. But I do think Wilkinson can show the Giants that he is a big leaguer. It just most likely won't be in the starting rotation. Now two really intriguing moves. Let me know your thoughts down in the comment section below. Junior Marte, a guy who was not thrown in AAA, completely skipping that level. And you know, the Giants are in a really interesting position when that stuff happens because AA Richmond, it's a very tough league to hit in. So it gives a lot of pitchers confidence that, you know, they have some good outings out there and they say, hey, I can be a big leaguer. You go to the PCL AAA, it's extremely difficult to pitch there. It is a very hitter friendly league. It is a launch pad at virtually every stadium. So you see some really elevated ERAs like we saw from Matt Wilkinson during his AAA stint with the Rivercats. So it does kind of make sense from that standpoint, but still, you want to see him get up to AAA and have a few good outings in that difficult environment to prove that he is a piece for your big league roster. Really interesting call-ups, but I am intrigued to see what Junior Marte can bring to the Giants. I'm interested to see how long he's with the big league club. It'll be really interesting. I would have expected to see Joe Whitman, who's in AAA right now, before Junior Marte, but either way, the Giants, a new righty from AA will make his debut shortly. And Matt Wilkinson is back with the big league club for the doubleheader starting game one in just a few hours. That's going to do it for today's video. If you enjoyed, go down below, hit that like button and hit that subscribe button. Those are two of the easiest ways to help support the channel and really help us continue to bring the best Giants content and analysis on YouTube. Also leave a comment down below your thoughts on both of these promotions. Junior Marte up in the big leagues, skipping AAA, Matt Wilkinson back with the club. As always, thank you so much for watching and we will see you next time.