Giants Gamble On Former Top Prospect! First Round Pick Gets Second Chance at Spring Training
A year ago, the San Francisco Giants sent cash to the Milwaukee Brewers for a pitcher named Ethan Small.
A year later, he hasn’t delivered much to the Giants. But he’ll head to Scottsdale, Ariz., later this month as a non-roster invitee at Major League spring training.
He is one of 14 pitchers that received the invitation. He re-signed with the Giants on a minor-league deal in December after a rather forgettable 2024.
Small joined the Giants after the Brewers designated him for assignment. But he wasn’t ready to pitch once the season began as he suffered a moderate right oblique strain.
The Giants activated him in August, assigned him to Triple-A Sacramento and he ended up pitching in a combined 14 minor-league games, including three starts. He didn’t factor in a decision and had a 4.35 ERA, with 16 strikeouts and two walks in 13 innings.
San Francisco brought Small back for a second year, a pitcher that has not lived up to being a former first-round pick of the Brewers back in 2019.
Coming out of Mississippi State, he was a strikeout artist. He finished his career ranked No. 3 in career strikeouts with 318, trailing only Eric DuBose (428; 1995-97) and Jeff Brantley (364; 1982-85).
Brantley played the first six seasons of his career with the Giants and emerged as a solid closer with 172 career saves in a 14-year Major League career.
Small quickly emerged as a young star in the Brewers’ system. His first minor-league stint was with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, where he had a 0.86 ERA with 36 strikeouts in 21 innings. But the COVID shutdown of 2020 delayed his progress with Milwaukee.
He continued that success in 2021 at Double-A and Triple-A, as he was selected to play in the MLB Futures Game during MLB All-Star Game weekend. In 18 starts, he went 4-2 with a 1.98 ERA with 92 strikeouts in 77.1 innings.
That put him knocking on the door of a promotion to the Majors.
But his success in the minor leagues did not translate with the Brewers. In four MLB appearances in 2022 and 2023, he did not factor in a decision and had an 8.71 ERA. He struck out 13 and walked 10 in 10.1 innings.
For the Giants, he could be starting pitching depth — most of his minor-league appearances was as a starter — or a long reliever.
But he must stay healthy and get back on track, something that proved difficult last season.
