Giants acquire lefty Alex Young in another Guardians trade originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
The Giants continue to add depth on the mound ahead of their second-half playoff push, trading for another Cleveland Guardians pitcher.
The team announced they have acquired lefty Alex Young from the Guardians on Monday in exchange for cash considerations, and the 28-year-old was immediately optioned to Triple-A Sacramento.
In order to make room for Young on the 40-man roster, fellow left-hander Aaron Fletcher was outrighted to Sacramento after clearing waivers.
A second-round pick by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2015, Young started 15 games as a rookie for Arizona in 2019 with a 7-5 record and 3.56 ERA. That number inflated to 5.44 and 6.26, respectively, over his next two seasons with the Diamondbacks.
He went on to throw 10 1/3 innings for Cleveland after being claimed off waivers in 2021 but only made one big league appearance in 2022 for the Guardians that lasted just one-third of an inning.
Young has logged 32 innings as a reliever in Triple-A this season with a 3.66 ERA but shows promise with a 35.6 percent strikeout rate compared to a 5.3 percent walk rate. He’s known to give up the long ball, however, made evident by his 1.41 home runs per nine innings allowed and 23.8 percent home run to fly ball rate.
Those numbers were enough to convince the Giants to replace Fletcher on the 40-man with Young. Fletcher was just claimed off waivers from the Pittsburgh Pirates last week and will stay in the Giants organization as depth — yet another arm that could end up making an appearance in the bullpen later this season.
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Young is the second Cleveland pitcher San Francisco has traded for this month after acquiring right-hander Tobias Myers on July 7 for cash considerations as well. He’s also the fourth pitcher added to the Rivercats roster in July.
The recent moves signify a Giants team that’s thinking ahead as they sit half a game back of a playoff spot at the All-Star break. The team could use a bullpen boost in the second half, but whether it will be a new acquisition or a homegrown talent like R.J. Dabovich remains to be seen.