2025 Depth Charts: Left-Handed Starters

Ebbs and Flows on the Port Side

Photo Credit: K.A. Fulmore | Richmond Flying Squirrels

Before we get to today’s Depth Charts, let’s wrap the Rule 5 draft up in a quick bow. As expected, the Giants were non-participants in the major league phase in both directions. They had no room on the roster to make a pick even if they were so inclined, and nobody raided a player from them. In the minor league phase, however, they once again heard familiar names called with regularity. In all, the Giants lost six players who were unprotected on their Triple-A roster: Wil Jensen (Cubs), Cesar Quintas (Mariners), Julio Rodriguez (Astros), Will Wilson (Guardians), Andy Thomas (Padres), Nick Swiney (Astros). In addition, the Giants selected two pitchers, lefty C.J. Widger (the son of former big leaguer, Chris Widger), and right-hander Sadrac Franco.

I don’t clap my own back too often around here, but in the case of this draft, I should say that those of you who read all of my recent “Way Too Early Roster Previews” should have found yourself nodding your heads as you heard those names ticked off. Jensen, Wilson, Quintas, Thomas, and Swiney were all players who I specifically pointed to as having difficult paths to roster spots or playing time next year (without injuries opening things up for them), and, in my post about lowering expectations for the Rule 5 draft, I noted that there was industry interest in Rodriguez and expected some team to grab him. Quality content around here!

Why You Shouldn't Expect Much Excitement from the Rule 5 Draft This Year

As for the two new additions, Widger is a big-bodied, pitchability-lefty reliever, a little older for a player who has yet to reach Double-A, thanks to a couple of gaps in his playing time history (one caused by maturity, one by elbow surgery). Franco is a skinny, short-framed Panamanian right-hander who has seen some big velocity spikes, but has also missed a ton of time with injuries, spending most of his eight-year career in complex leagues, with just a little time in Low-A. Interestingly, Franco was in almost exactly the same situation as Rodriguez: he became a free-agent (out of the Angels’ organization) in the fall, was signed to an MiLB deal by Detroit, but not protected on the Triple-A roster, and then selected by the Giants — his third organization of the last six weeks.

For all of these players, both coming and going, this move will hopefully free up clearer paths to opportunities and get their careers moving in a positive direction. We have actually seen a couple of minor league Rule 5 guys make the majors in recent years — mostly relievers, naturally — so this isn’t the end of their journeys. I was particularly happy to see Jensen and Wilson selected, and I think both are going to good organizations for them. Good luck to all in their new homes! For the Giants, it has to be a source of pride that the industry does see them as a source of quality inventory even at this relatively low level. And, for my work, I think it’s worth noting that there is valu in paying attention to things like “up and down guys” and organizational depth — because the front offices that run this game do value those players and actively seek upgrades even at those marginal levels. All of these players have a story and a journey and a dream, and they all deserve coverage and attention.

By There R Giants’ math, the Giants currently sit with 13 available spots on their domestic roster that can be used for either adding minor league free agents or bringing up players from the DSL this spring.

Now to today’s regularly scheduled post!

So far in this year’s Depth Charts series, we’ve looked at:

• Shortstop

• First Base

After checking out some big boppers around the infield in our first two editions of the 2025 Draft Charts, let’s mix things up a bit and head to the mound today. We’ll start our pitcher depth charts with left-handed starters — arguably the single most desired and industry-hoarded profile in the game of baseball! Everybody in this game is always looking for shortstops and lefties! In fact, just last July, after the Giants acquired one of the young men we’ll be talking about today, Farhan Zaidi justified the move to media fairly simply by saying: “you can never have too much left-handed pitching.” The man speaks the truth.

And, from that perspective, this is a Depth Chart that has really waxed and waned a bit over the years that I’ve been doing this series. I trotted out the gimmick of going back to my original series for the 1b chart, but this LHP chart from April of 2021 is maybe even more dramatic! The more I return to the 2021 version of Depth Charts, the more it is impressed on me how much work lay ahead of this organization coming out of the pandemic. This is bleak — and even the talent that was on hand has taken its share of hard knocks in the last four years:

And yet, the work that club did adding to this inventory over the next three years had me positively giddy at points. I identified left-handed pitching again and again in my posts as an area of weakness that had been turned into a strength. Last year, when I tackled this group, it struck me as the biggest upside position in the organization — and that was before the acquisitions of Robbie Ray and Blake Snell.

As spring training 2024 approached, the Giants’ depth of lefty starters included two former Cy Young Award winners, Baseball America’s #2 and #9 best LHP prospects in the game, the top college lefty of the previous year’s draft, and a reasonable amount of depth options around that top end talent. In an industry that craves high-upside lefty pitching, this really appeared to be an embarrassment of riches!

As we move into 2025, however, things seem more….muted, I guess. Snell’s mercurial brilliance has moved on to the Black Star of high talent down South (swallowing up every great player floating through space). Ray’s promise didn’t quite materialize in 2024, and we’re left wondering what to expect from a player who has been both healthy and good really only one time in the past seven seasons.

As for the top prospects, while there were no major injuries or huge steps backwards, the cold splash of reality in this oh so difficult game was certainly felt. Is Kyle Harrison a star in the making or a solid and capable innings eater? Is Carson Whisenhunt’s future success a sure thing or is he falling into the dreaded “back-end type” profile? Does Joe Whitman have the pitch mix to stick as a starter? Will Reggie Crawford ever be able to hold up to the physical demands of pitching?

These sorts of questions came up often enough during the 2024 season to serve as a curative for any outbreak of giddiness. It’s by no means 2021-level scarcity here in the LHP charts, but, almost across the board, I find myself thinking about scaling my 2024 grades back and lowering expectations. There are some lower-level guys who reverse this trend, but “tempering expectations” is definitely the theme of the day, and I feel like we’re left with more questions than answers for the coming year…

Before we cross the jump, ‘tis the season to give the Giants’ fan in your life a subscription to There R Giants, so they can keep up with all the news on the farm.