PHOENIX – Normally, you’ll hear younger prime prospects speaking in regards to the weight they’ve gained within the offseason by figuring out and constructing muscle.
However for Giants left-hander Kyle Harrison, this offseason was spent chopping down the kilos.
The De La Salle Excessive College product acquired on the mound and confronted reside hitters Monday for the primary time this spring. He wasn’t overly captivated with his efficiency on the mound, however that didn’t tamper the enjoyment of being on the market an excessive amount of.
“It was good to face the blokes on the market, get again into issues and be aggressive as ever,” Harrison mentioned. “[I] didn’t have one of the best outing right now however going to attempt subsequent bullpen, subsequent catch play to get higher and take it from there.”
Harrison was listed at 200 kilos popping out of highschool, when the Giants drafted him within the third spherical of the 2020 MLB Draft and provided him an almost $2.5 million bonus to signal with the group, foregoing his dedication to UCLA.
However he mentioned that, as his season in Low-A San Jose wore on, he felt himself including weight, which he thought was hampering his explosiveness on the mound.
“I actually took this offseason to work on my weight loss program, working [out] onerous,” Harrison mentioned. “I believed lots of people have been impressed with how I appeared and I used to be impressed with how I felt off the mound, and that’s crucial factor. For my first full season, that’s what I used to be studying and taking in. It was an amazing expertise and I’m simply going to maintain constructing off of it.”
The numbers from 2021 definitely pop. Throughout 23 begins, Harrison posted a 3.19 ERA with 157 strikeouts and 52 walks in 98.2 innings and simply three homers allowed. Whereas he felt he wasn’t as explosive later within the season, he nonetheless completed with a flourish, successful all 4 September begins (together with a playoff recreation) and placing out 34 batters in 22.1 innings whereas solely permitting 11 hits, seven walks and two runs. It’s additionally when he had his single-game-high 12 strikeouts in a Sept. 2 begin towards Visalia.
Harrison’s velocity, which sat between 90 and 93 miles per hour in highschool, immediately bumped up into the mid-90s and touched 98 at occasions in San Jose, one thing he attributes to the work he was doing within the weight room … and likewise a bit little bit of puberty and a giant abdomen.
“The little snacks, they get me. I wish to eat lots. I used to be a rising boy coming into professional ball,” Harrison mentioned. “I acquired right here and the Giants noticed me up 20 kilos like, ‘Whoa, this dude’s placing on weight.’ After which the velo began to return and all that. Simply type of determining my physique via the primary full season and now understanding how my physique reacts to sure issues.”
Harrison recalled strolling into the Giants’ facility on the primary day and mentioned he thought to himself, “Dude, these are males in right here, that is loopy.” However on an explosive San Jose workers, the place 4 starters threw 98 or extra innings, it was what Harrison did at age 19 that gained essentially the most consideration nationally.
Fangraphs initially ranked him because the Giants’ No. 8 prospect in March 2021, however he’s as much as No. 4 on their 2022 Giants record from Feb. 1. And even within the time since, Fangraphs bumped him as much as No. 3 for the Giants and No. 38 total on their all-encompassing rating system, THE BOARD. Each MLB.com and Baseball America have Harrison at No. 5 within the Giants group and of their Prime 100 in all of baseball (MLB.com at 99th, Baseball America at ninety fifth).
Primarily based on signing bonus alone, it’s truthful to say the Giants have been anticipating a whole lot of Harrison, even with him being a third-round choose. His $2,497,500 bonus was the very best the Giants gave to any pitcher since Tyler Beede signed for $2,613,200 in 2014 and essentially the most a highschool pitcher had signed for since Zack Wheeler’s $3.3 million bonus in 2009 (all numbers from Baseball America’s draft database).
However that’s what makes the 2021 numbers so tantalizing. Harrison grew up modeling himself after Chris Sale, and his present pitch combine entails the identical kind of slider Sale used.
“Rising up watching him from that arm slot, I all the time wished a sweeper like him, a bit sweeper slider,” Harrison mentioned. “However I all the time appreciated the best way he attacked guys. Onerous-throwing lefty, not likely caring what’s behind him or something, simply attacking the zone. That’s the mindset that I need to have.”
Attacking hitters within the zone and throwing extra strikes have been the 2 issues Harrison mentioned he was engaged on essentially the most heading into 2022, although he’s attempting out totally different changeup grips so as to add a 3rd pitch into his arsenal. However whenever you’re 19 and throwing fastballs within the mid-to-upper 90s, typically studying the right way to throw that onerous might be the most important problem.
“That’s the factor I realized final yr — type of when to dial it again, when to go for that high-velocity pitch, that was kinda the massive adjustment,” Harrison mentioned. “On the fastball, I used to be lacking up lots. I feel that may come ultimately, me studying the right way to harness that soar in velocity.”
Harrison acknowledged that staying wholesome is “crucial factor,” because it all the time is with pitchers. However If his 2021 season was him studying the right way to harness that soar, what if he does harness it in 2022? What's his ceiling … Double-A? Triple-A? Or may he be the primary Giants pitcher to begin a Main League recreation at 20 years previous since Madison Bumgarner in 2010?
Solely time will inform, however it’s one thing Harrison mentioned he isn’t anxious about coming into the brand new season.
“I need to be one of the best individual I might be on and off the sphere,” Harrison mentioned. “I’m gonna let the Giants do what they need to do with me, they know what’s proper for me. I’m simply going to go on the market and compete daily and attempt to get higher daily.”
And whereas he’s attempting to eat higher, he’s nonetheless a California child. He couldn’t lower In-N-Out Burger utterly out of his weight loss program.
“Each every now and then, I’ll deal with myself,” Harrison mentioned with a smile. “However [I’ll] attempt to restrict that, undoubtedly.”
Different notes from camp
The Giants performed two simulated video games on the similar time Monday at Area 2 – the one with Candlestick’s dimensions – and Area 3, the Oracle Park area. Probably the most notable prospect to get at-bats was their No. 3 prospect Luis Matos, who went 0-for-2 on Area 3.