Farhan Zaidi season has officially begun.
The Giants’ VP of Baseball Operations known for his wizardry on the waiver wire made his first three claims of the offseason on Friday, adding right-handed pitcher Hunter Harvey, left-handed pitcher Joe Palumbo and outfielder Austin Dean to the roster.
Harvey is the most enticing of the bunch. The 26-year-old is a former first-round (22nd) overall selection by the Baltimore Orioles, who has dealt with a number of injuries while spending most of the last eight seasons in the minor leagues. In 2015, he was ranked as high as the 20th best prospect in baseball by Baseball Prospectus.
Harvey dealt with health problems again in 2021, pitching just 18 2/3 combined innings at the Triple-A and Major League levels. While Harvey’s minor league stats have been all over the place, he’s impressed during his three separate call-ups with the Orioles in 2019, 2020 and 2021 respectively, posting a 3.42 ERA across 23 2/3 career big-league innings.
When healthy, Harvey throws an upper 90s fastball and has good command. He doesn’t hit arbitration until next year and should get a look as a bullpen option if he can stay off the Injured List.
Palumbo, 27, is another injury-plagued prospect that could get a look if he can stay healthy. His brief stints at the major league level in 2019 and 2020 did not go well (9.47 ERA in nine appearances) but his minor league numbers over eight seasons are impressive (2.92 ERA in 363 and 2/3 innings pitched).
Austin Dean, 28, is a former fourth-round pick of the Marlins and has the most major league experience of the three. Dean has played in 123 games in parts of four seasons with Miami and St. Louis. The right-handed hitter has posted a 225/.282/.391 slash-line in those games, but has been much more impressive in Triple-A posting a .322/.394/.535 line in parts of three seasons at that level.