San Francisco Giants Call Up Top Pitching Prospect Carson Whisenhunt

Carson Whisenhunt has not had the smoothest path to making his anticipated MLB debut tonight for the San Francisco Giants against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Through it all, the 24-year-old left-hander and the Giants have remained confident in his ability. That’s despite being suspended for his junior year at East Carolina, sidelined with Covid-19, a lofty 5.17 earned run average in the minors in 2024 and giving up more hits than innings pitched this year at Triple-A Sacramento.

“We’ve been waiting for this for a little bit now,” Giants manager Bob Melvin told reporters Sunday. “We thought maybe he’d be here last year, too. He’s our top pitching prospect, I believe. There’s a need for it. It’ll be exciting to see him pitch.”

Whisenhunt got a $1,866,220 signing bonus as the Giants’ second-round pick in 2022, No. 66 overall. That was three picks behind current Milwaukee Brewers rookie sensation Jacob Misiorowski. Only 16 of the 65 players picked ahead of Whisenhunt have made it to MLB thus far.

Whisenhunt admitted taking a performance-enhancing drug that he claims he did not know was on the NCAA’s banned list.

“Over the winter break, I took supplements I purchased at a nationwide nutrition store that resulted in a positive test,” Whisenhunt said then. “Unfortunately, under NCAA rules I’m not allowed to participate in the 2022 college baseball season. I’m disappointed I won’t be able to play this season and sincerely apologize to my teammates, coaches, family, friends and fans.

“I am grateful to ECU and my coaches for their confidence in me to continue to pursue my degree. I hope to return to the East Carolina baseball team for the 2023 season.”

Instead, he started his pro career in the Giants’ system. His progress was delayed a bit as he contracted Covid-19.

Moving Up

Whisenhunt turned heads in 2023, pitching well across three levels. In 16 starts overall, he had a 2.45 ERA, 83 strikeouts over 58 2/3 innings and allowed 37 hits.

He has continued to move up, though not with as much overwhelming success. In 2024, he had a lofty 5.42 ERA and 3-5 record at Sacramento – but did fan 135 over 104 innings. This year, he has an 8-5 mark and 4.15 ERA.

The lefty is listed as San Francisco’s top pitching prospect and No. 3 overall in the farm system by MLB Pipeline. He retired the only two men he faced in the recent 2025 All-Star Futures Game.

He is one of many good young pitchers in the system, including Hayden Birdsong, Kyle Harrison and Reggie Crawford.

Changing Up

The changeup has always been Whisenhunt’s best pitch. When thrown from the same motion and arm slot as his 93-mph fastball, he gets plenty of swing-and-miss along with weak ground balls. His third pitch is a mid-80s slider with good downward movement.

Commanding all three pitches is important. He does not blow away batters with an elite fastball. In 273 2/3 innings as a pro, Whisenhunt has walked 108. That’s an average of 3.6 per nine innings, too high to consistently succeed. He has cut it to 2.6 per nine this year.

Whisenhunt believes he has progressed, yet understands there is still work to be done.

“The changeup is still very consistent with where it needs to be, and the sinker has been a lot better this year,” he told Brian Pitts of the Davie County Enterprise Record earlier this month. “Last year I struggled a little bit finding the zone (with the sinker) and worked on some different stuff with it. But this year I am trying not to overthink it.

“The slider is a completely different pitch than what it was last year. Last year I started messing around with it, trying to get comfortable with a grip. Coming into the offseason before this year, it was: ‘Hey, let’s sit down and find a grip that is comfortable, work on getting in the zone and using it as a put-away if I need to.’

“I have tweaked the grip a couple times, and now I feel really confident in that pitch. I trust it with lefties and righties. It’s honestly opened a lot of different avenues for me to not use the changeup as much and save it for later in counts. Same thing with the curveball. I can use (the slider) early or late in counts against righties or lefties if I need to and not have to use the changeup as much or the heater. It has worked really well because I have a bunch of different options now.”

Pirates To Pirates

There’s a bit of odd synergy to Whisenhunt’s debut as he will be facing the Pirates – the same nickname as his collegiate club. He will be the 22nd MLB player from the East Carolina program.

Four of his college teammates have made an impact in the big leagues., most notably first baseman/outfielder Alex Burleson of the St. Louis Cardinals. Others are Miami Marlins infielder Connor Norby and pitchers Gavin Williams of the Cleveland Guardians and Zach Agnos of the Colorado Rockies.

East Carolina alum Chris Heston made quite an impact with the Giants as a rookie in 2015, pitching a no-hitter and compiling a 12-11 record.

Where Whisenhunt Fits In

He is taking the rotation spot of Landen Roupp, who went on the 15-day injured list last week with right elbow inflammation. Veterans Logan Webb, Robbie Ray and Justin Verlander along with fellow rookie lefty Kyle Harrison hold the other spots.

There is no secret the Giants are seeking to add another reliable starter and solid hitter as they try to secure a playoff spot. San Francisco, 54-52, is seven games behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West, but only three games out in the race for a wild-card berth.

Whisenhunt’s performance tonight against the Pittsburgh Pirates should help the Giants decide what to do by the trading deadline this Thursday at 6 p.m. ET. It may even spark interest from another club willing to deal a battle-tested veteran to San Francisco.

All eyes in many MLB organizations will be on the 6-3, 215-pound pitcher. Perhaps Giants manager Bob Melvin sees enough to believe Whisenhunt can remain when Roupp returns. That could shift the team’s interest into dealing a pitcher for more offense. Or even trading a young pitcher or two for another rotation veteran.

The San Francisco Giants obviously want Carson Whisenhunt to succeed tonight and in the future, preferably in the team’s orange and black colors. It has been a bit of a hopscotch road to this point – with a few hops likely to pop up in the future.