SAN FRANCISCO -- Kyle Harrison is back in the big leagues.
The Giants’ former top prospect was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento following Sunday afternoon’s 9-3 win over the Rockies, giving the club another left-handed relief option as it heads to Chicago to kick off a three-game series against the first-place Cubs on Monday night at Wrigley Field.
Veteran right-hander Lou Trivino was designated for assignment to clear a spot on the 26-man roster for Harrison.
The 23-year-old was viewed as the favorite for the Giants’ fifth starter spot after recording a 4.56 ERA over 24 Major League starts as a rookie last year, but he ended up losing the competition to Landen Roupp after he was slowed by an illness at the beginning of camp.
Harrison opened the 2025 campaign at Triple-A Sacramento, where he logged a 3.46 ERA with 38 strikeouts over 26 innings across his first six starts of the year. He topped out at 97.8 mph while striking out seven over five innings of one-run ball in his last start for the River Cats on Wednesday, an encouraging sign after he averaged only 92.5 mph on his four-seam fastball in 2024.
“It’s good to see that the velocity is picking up because for a guy like him, that’s important,” manager Bob Melvin said last week. “More swings and misses. It was probably his best performance. We’ll see where we go from here.”
Harrison was fully stretched out in the Minors and has never made an official relief appearance since being drafted by the Giants in the third round of the 2020 Draft out of De La Salle High School in Concord, Calif., but he’s expected to pitch out of the bullpen for now and serve as the second lefty behind Erik Miller.
Trivino missed the entire 2023 and ‘24 campaigns while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, but he came back to win a spot in the Giants’ Opening Day bullpen after impressing as a non-roster invitee this spring. Still, the 33-year-old veteran endured a rocky return to the big leagues this year, posting a 5.84 ERA over 11 appearances for the Giants.