This season has been a revelation of youth for the San Francisco Giants. Casey Schmitt, Patrick Bailey, Luis Matos and others have sparked the MLB roster with an injection of excitement and execution.
But the man who fans have been hoping and expecting to see this season, Kyle Harrison, remains in the minors.
To find out where Harrison stands in his development, Papa & Lund talked to Sacramento River Cats manager Dave Brundage ahead of Harrison’s start on Thursday night.
In that outing, Harrison went for a season-long five innings, striking out eight batters, but also allowing two walks, a home run and two earned runs.
For Brundage, Harrison just needs to keep producing.
“I think just a little consistency,” Brundage said. “The arm’s there. I mean, he’s got electric stuff.”
He thinks the pressure placed on Harrison is tangible.
“It’s been fun to watch,” Brundage said. “The young man’s got all the talent in the world. I think there’s a lot of pressure on him. Being in Triple A’s a little different than being in A ball and Double-A because he knows he’s close and he can kind of feel that pressure. We’re trying to take some of that pressure off, let him relax, be himself and just continue to learn and improve every every outing. The consistency is not there yet, but the stuff is there.”
The Sacramento manager urged patience for the 21-year-old lefty from onlookers, those within the Giants organization and from Harrison himself.
He said he wants to see Harrison be able to coach himself through tough moments on the mound,.
“There’s been certain times where you can kind of see — times I feel like he’s not able to coach himself,” Brundage said. “And I think that’s a big moment. I think when pitchers are able to coach themselves on the mound and understand and make those adjustments to get it back a little sooner as opposed to there’s other times where he just dominates. You kind of see a young man walk off the mound with his chest sticking out and that’s the swagger that we’re looking for. I haven’t seen it all the time, but at the same time, I know it’s coming.”
Harrison reaching five innings and a season-high 19 batters is an encouraging sign. He’s getting closer to an innings total that would allow him to make the jump to the next level fairly seamlessly, assuming his production remains encouraging.
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