The San Francisco Giants are calling up left-hander Matt “Tugboat” Wilkinson for what would be his major league debut, according to multiple media reports on Monday.
Wilkinson, 23, has had quite a year, representing his native Canada in the World Baseball Classic and then rising rapidly through the Giants organization after being acquired in May in the trade that sent catcher Patrick Bailey to the Cleveland Guardians.
The 10th-round pick in the 2023 MLB Draft has pitched in the rookie league, with two Double-A teams and at Triple-A Sacramento this season, posting a 6-6 record and 3.40 ERA over 90 innings in the minors this season.
He threw 2 2/3 scoreless innings in the WBC, striking out four batters.
Wilkinson was quite successful at the Double-A level, with a 1.87 ERA over 43 1/3 combined innings for Richmond (Giants) and Akron (Guardians). His raw numbers weren’t as good at Triple-A, where he had a 5.15 ERA over 10 starts and 43 2/3 innings.
The 6-foot-1 southpaw has racked up strikeouts throughout his professional career, with 390 of them compared to 113 walks over 313 2/3 innings over the last four seasons.
