San Francisco Giants Receive Intriguing Pitching Prospect in Rogers Trade

The San Francisco Giants recently traded away reliever Taylor Rogers, here's a look at the prospect they got in return from the Cincinnati Reds.
San Francisco Giants helmets in the dugout during a MLB World Tour game at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu.
San Francisco Giants helmets in the dugout during a MLB World Tour game at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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The San Francisco Giants recently made a deal to send one of their relievers, Taylor Rogers, to the Cincinnati Reds, and in return will receive right-handed relief prospect Braxton Roxby.

This deal comes as a likely money-saving move for the Giants, who are able to shed Rogers' $12 million contract remaining from his initial three-year deal and get a prospect to do so.

Looking at Roxby, he was an undrafted free agent in the 2020 MLB Draft class, and at 25 years old has worked his way up to AA in the four seasons since being selected. He has split time between the High-A and AA levels for most of his minor league career, pitching in 49 games and 81 games, respectively.

The reason for the distinct split between those two feeder teams and having not made AAA yet is due to his significant production drop-off at the AA level. But, 2024 was an improvement for Roxby compared to his prior seasons, as he stuck in AA for the entire season and was able to post a lower ERA than his average there with 5.21.

With High-A Dayton, he had a combined 3.17 ERA, with a 1.202 WHIP, 152 strikeouts to 53 walks, 12 saves, and a 9-6 record in 110.2 innings pitched. Then moving up to Double-AA, those numbers inflated to a 6.41 ERA, 1.559 WHIP, 81 strikeouts to 26 walks, three saves, and an 0-4 record in 59.0 innings pitched.

The most intriguing part about his game is the strikeout totals mentioned, as 233 strikeouts to 79 walks (a 2.95 SO/BB ratio) are impressive coming up through the farm system. The difficulty has been keeping the exit velocity on his pitches down, and avoiding consistent contact in general.

In Double-A he had a whopping 28.8% strikeout rate in 2024, which is a huge positive when it comes to being able to develop him into a reliable reliever.

Fangraphs had Roxby within the Reds' top 40 prospects entering 2024, ranked at No. 38. A glimpse at their analysis of him notes that he's a side-arm reliever with a mid-90s fastball and a pair or breaking balls.

"He may not have the command to be a true on-roster middle inning guy, but he has rare arm strength for a pitcher with a slot this low and projects as an up/down specialist type," per Fangraphs.

A Rogers trade had been somewhat anticipated, considering the financial implications in doing so. When it comes to getting a return prospect in a contract-dumping deal, usually the results are not spectacular. Getting a player back with strong slider motion, a high strikeout rate and some tools to work with for the future is a solid piece to get back for San Francisco.


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