Trade Deadline Brings Three Players to Eugene

The Giants made three moves before Tuesday afternoon's trade deadline, with two netting the Emeralds three new players.

San Francisco shipped utility man Darin Ruf to the New York Mets for major leaguer J.D. Davis and three pitching prospects, two of whom will join the Emeralds pitching rotation. The third prospect is left-hander Thomas Szapucki who will head to AAA Sacramento to join the River Cats.

Carson Seymour was the Mets' 24th-ranked prospect and 2021 6th-round pick out of Kansas State. He spent the first month of the 2022 season with the Single-A St. Lucie Mets, where the righty dominated. In seven games (four starts) with St. Lucie, Seymour went 4-0 with a 1.19 ERA and 27 strikeouts before he was assigned to the High-A Brooklyn Cyclones on May 23rd. Seymour appeared in 11 games (nine starts) for the Cyclones. Although he had a 1-5 record and his ERA rose to 3.68 as he adjusted to High-A ball, Seymour's strikeout total ballooned to 65, good for third on the Cyclones while having only 51.1 innings pitched.

Second on the Cyclones with 72 strikeouts was Nick Zwack, the other pitcher assigned to Eugene in the aftermath of the Ruf trade. Zwack was drafted out of Xavier University in the 17th round of the 2021 draft and was the Mets' 27th-ranked prospect. Like Seymour, Zwack spent time in A and High-A ball. In four games (two starts) for the St. Lucie Mets, Zwack had a 1-1 record with a 4.97 ERA while fanning 24 batters to only two walks. Zwack joined the Brooklyn Cyclones on May 2nd, and that's where the left-hander hit his stride. He appeared in 14 games, making 13 starts with the Cyclones, where he held an eyebrow-raising 1.84 ERA while maintaining a 5-1 record. Zwack earned South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Month honors for June after posting a ridiculous 0.36 ERA and holding batters to a .163 average while striking out 26 over five starts.

In their second trade, the Giants packaged catcher Curt Casali and left-handed pitcher Matthew Boyd to the Seattle Mariners for right-handed pitcher Michael Stryffeler (who will join the AAA Sacramento River Cats) and catcher Andy Thomas, who will join the Emeralds.

Thomas had been a thorn in the Ems' side as a member of the Everett Aquasox since being drafted by the Mariners in the 5th round of the 2021 Draft after four seasons with the Baylor Bears. Thomas had ten home runs and 36 RBIs on a .268 batting average across 75 games with the 'Sox. The catcher won Northwest League Player of the Week honors for his performance against the Emeralds in a July series where Thomas had three home runs and five RBIs on a .444 batting average.

The Giants' final deadline move came when right-handed pitcher Trevor Rosenthal was sent to the Milwaukee Brewers for outfielder Tristan Peters who was assigned to the AA Richmond Flying Squirrels.

Carson Seymour and Nick Zwack are now the 28th, and 29th-ranked Giants prospects, respectively, while Andy Thomas adds depth to the Emeralds catching corps and a plus bat to a lineup that is already rolling through the second half of the Northwest League season. All three will look to be impact players on an Emeralds team that is looking to win back-to-back NWL Championship titles.