ATLANTA — San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler on Sunday announced the club’s top pitching prospect, Kyle Harrison, will make his MLB debut on Tuesday against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Speaking after San Francisco’s 4-3 win over the Atlanta Braves, Kapler was optimistic about Harrison’s chances, even against a formidable Phillies lineup that is in the thick of the National League wild-card race.
“We think he is ready,” Kapler said of the left-hander who has 109 strikeouts in 67 2/3 innings in the minor leagues this season. “He’s a great guy with an unbelievable work ethic so I’m excited to see him and our team is excited to see him.”
Harrison, 22, No. 36 in ESPN’s midseason top 50 MLB prospects, pitched in the MLB All-Star Futures Game last year and will join the Giants this week out of Triple A.
Despite the strikeout numbers, his command has become a question this season, one of the main reasons why he wasn’t higher on ESPN’s list.
“The last couple of outings, I think he’s taken some real steps forward,” Kapler said. “Philadelphia is a really good lineup. … But I don’t want to focus too much on that, because this is about Kyle earning the opportunity, hanging in there, fighting through a challenging season.”
The Phillies, who took on the Washington Nationals on Sunday night, entered the game with 579 runs this season, good enough for second in the NL East. In the first two games of the Nationals series, they scored 19 runs.
“I don’t want to set any boundaries on him,” Kapler said. “Let’s let him get here, and get him ready to roll. We want to have him to have easy, comfortable travel. And then have him start to work with our pitching coaches, and we’ll develop a gameplan.”
A 6-foot-2 native of San Jose, California, Harrison was drafted in the 2020 third round.
The series begins on Monday with Scott Alexander (6-2, 4.06) starting for the Giants. He will be opposed by Aaron Nola (10-8, 4.58).
The Associated Press contributed to this report.