The Giants have added another arm to the mix, claiming right-hander Joel Kuhnel off waivers from the Brewers, according to Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. Milwaukee designated him for assignment earlier this week, and San Francisco will have to clear a spot on its 40-man roster before the move becomes official.
That could be as straightforward as shifting Marcelo Mayer to the 60-day injured list, since he has already been sidelined that long. Kuhnel is out of options, too, so once he reports, he’ll need an active roster spot.
Kuhnel, 31, has spent the last several years bouncing through the league. He’s pitched for the Reds, Astros, Rays, Athletics and Brewers, and the big-league results haven’t matched the ground-ball lean in his game. In 129 major league innings, he carries a 5.58 ERA.
The appeal is in the arm and the track record underneath it. Kuhnel’s four-seamer and sinker both sit around 95 miles per hour, and he also mixes in a cutter, curveball, slider and changeup.
He doesn’t miss a ton of bats, but he does usually keep the ball on the ground more than half the time. Since the start of 2024, he has logged 119 2/3 Triple-A innings with a 3.08 ERA.
This season has already included time with both the A’s and Brewers. Across 35 1/3 innings, he has posted a 4.84 ERA. Milwaukee had him on a rehab assignment for the past month, and he turned in a 1.64 ERA over 11 Triple-A innings before the club chose to designate him for assignment rather than bring him back onto the roster.
For a Giants club playing out the rest of a lost season, Kuhnel gives them a live look over the final few weeks. And if they decide they want to keep him around, the control is there: he’s under team control for four more seasons after this one and won’t be arbitration-eligible until after 2027.
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