The Giants are cashing in on one of the more polarizing trades of their season. San Francisco shipped Gold Glove catcher Patrick Bailey to the Guardians back in May after he opened the year hitting.146, and the return was a 2026 first-round pick and a lefty most fans had never heard of. That lefty is now getting the call to the big leagues.
Jeff Passan broke the news that left-hander Matt "Tugboat" Wilkinson is heading up from the minors, and the numbers explain why. Wilkinson has allowed just 59 hits across 90 innings this season while striking out 96 hitters, a swing-and-miss rate that's kept him in prospect conversations all year.
The San Francisco Giants are calling up left-hander Matt "Tugboat" Wilkinson, sources tell ESPN. Wilkinson, acquired in the Patrick Bailey trade, was a 10th-round pick out of junior college and has allowed just 59 hits in 90 innings this season while striking out 96.
Wilkinson's path here is a good story on its own. He was a 10th-round pick in 2023 out of Central Arizona Junior College, where he posted a ridiculous 1.07 ERA with 136 strikeouts in 84 innings — the kind of college dominance that gets you drafted despite going in the double digits. Cleveland grabbed him then, and he was off to a 1-2, 1.59 start with Double-A Akron this season when the Bailey trade sent him to San Francisco's system instead.
The trade itself still looms over this call-up. Bailey was the Giants' starting catcher since 2023 and had won back-to-back Gold Gloves, but a brutal start to the season cost him the job and prompted San Francisco to move him for Wilkinson and the No. 29 pick in the 2026 draft. Every strikeout Wilkinson racks up in the majors now doubles as a referendum on that decision.
For a Giants team looking for pitching depth down the stretch, adding a lefty who's missed this many bats in the minors is a low-cost, high-upside swing. Whether "Tugboat" can carry that strikeout rate against big-league lineups is the next thing to watch — but San Francisco clearly likes what they've seen enough to find out now.