The Giants have acquired an outfielder Lewis Brinson in a trade with the Astros, as first indicated on the transactions log at MLB.com. Brinson was eligible to be traded by virtue of the fact that he’s on a minor league deal with Houston and has not, at any point, been on a Major League roster or injured list this season.
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Once one of the sport’s consensus top prospects, Brinson’s blend of raw power, speed and a plus throwing arm have never been enough to outshine his strikeout issues, minimal walk rate and lack of hard contact. A first-round pick by the Rangers back in 2012, he was traded to the Brewers as the centerpiece in Texas’ acquisition of former All-Star catcher Jonathan Lucroy and then to Miami as the headliner in Milwaukee’s acquisition of 2018 NL MVP Christian Yelich.
Brinson was widely considered to be among baseball’s 30 best prospects from 2016-18, but he’s now appeared in 341 big league games — mostly with the Marlins — and posted just a .199/.248/.323 batting line in 1111 plate appearances. He’s punched out in 28.2% of his Major League plate appearances against just a 5% walk rate, and when he’s made contact, the plus raw power Brinson possesses hasn’t shone through, likely due to his poor pitch selection (career 40.2% chase rate on pitches off the plate). Brinson’s 88.6 mph average exit velocity and 37.1% hard-hit rate are both pedestrian marks that align roughly with the collective league averages over his big league tenure.
All that said, there’s no denying that Brinson has posted strong results in Triple-A this season. Through 364 trips to the plate in Sugar Land, he’s slashed .299/.356/.574 with 22 home runs, 21 doubles, five triples and five steals (in eight tries). He’s still fanned in 28% of his plate appearances, however, and his 7.1% walk rate doesn’t suggest he’s become much more selective at the dish. Brinson has also had comparable Triple-A success in the past (.331/.400/.562 in a similar sample of plate appearances back in 2017).
The Astros seemingly weren’t going to bring Brinson to the big leagues and have several players they’d like to get some playing time in Triple-A, including recently optioned center fielder Jake Meyers. A trade of Brinson to the Giants gives Houston some extra playing time for younger players who are viewed as potential contributors beyond the 2022 season; Brinson would simply have been a free agent at season’s end unless added to the 40-man roster.
For the Giants, Brinson will give them some depth and a potential September call-up to join the outfield mix. If he indeed reaches the big leagues with San Francisco and shows some signs of improvement against MLB pitching, he’d be controllable for another three years via arbitration. It may be a long shot, but given what’s surely a minimal cost of acquisition — the teams have not yet announced the moves, and the transactions log does not specify a return — there’s little harm in rolling the dice on a former top prospect who won ‘t turn 29 until next May.
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