SF Giants don’t upgrade rotation, but Kyle Harrison could be an option soon

SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants opted not to upgrade their pitching staff ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline. But one long-awaited internal reinforcement could soon be an option.

Kyle Harrison, the 21-year-old top-rated left-handed pitching prospect in the game, is on an “accelerated” path back from a hamstring strain he suffered before the All-Star break and will be evaluated for a possible promotion on a “start-to-start” basis, president Farhan Zaidi said.

“He was really right on the cusp when he had the hamstring injury,” Zaidi said. “So it’s not going to take much for us to feel like he’s checked the last box and is ready to come up here.”

Harrison, who had 4.63 ERA and 96 strikeouts in 58⅓ innings at Triple-A this season, made his first and only rehab start Monday in the Arizona Complex League. He pitched two scoreless innings, striking out four, and will to return to Triple-A Sacramento, where he is expected to make his next start this weekend.

After that, Harrison could be up in short order.

The last box for Harrison likely has to do with throwing more strikes and finding a way retire right-handed hitters. Harrison has walked 6.9 batters per nine innings this season, while righties own a .946 OPS against him as he seeks to refine a third pitch to pair with his mid-90s heater and wipeout slider.

The Giants possess only two regular starters but opted not to add a pitcher at the deadline.

“We’ve got some guys in Triple-A that we think can help us the rest of the way,” Zaidi said. “So those are the additions we’re going to be looking for.”

While the Giants have used other starters in bulk relief roles — they are 14-5 this season when using an opener — Zaidi said the expectation is that Harrison would make his debut as a starter and be a member of the rotation. Harrison, for his part, has completed five innings only once in 18 starts this season.

The Giants have already had nine players make their debuts this season, and Harrison could be the 10th.

With top prospects such as Harrison reaching the upper levels of the minor leagues, Zaidi said he was less inclined to trade them for a short-term upgrade.

“It’s not a great feeling when you trade a really good young player for a rental and then you see him in somebody else’s big league uniform a week later,” Zaidi said. “We’ve talked about those guys in terms of the trade capital that they can hold in big deals, but I think we hear and see a lot from our fanbase about how excited they are to see Kyle Harrison and see (Marco) Luciano make his debut and what he’s done so far.

“It’s a little bit of a ‘Catch 22.’ When they’re far away, particularly last year with the injuries and lack of performance, you feel like maybe you couldn’t make the trade for a big-name player. But now that they’re right on the cusp, it’s almost harder to entertain training them. We just didn’t get that far down that road because there weren’t that caliber of player really available.”