The Road to The Show™: Giants’ Whisenhunt

Each week, MiLB.com profiles an elite prospect by chronicling the steps he's taken toward achieving his Major League dream. Here's a look at third-ranked Giants prospect Carson Whisenhunt. For more stories about players on The Road to The Show, click here.

There’s been a lot working against Carson Whisenhunt over the past two years, but he’s still managed to show that he could be one of the game’s best pitching prospects.

MLB Pipeline’s No. 70 overall prospect flashed dominance across three levels of the Minors in 2023 before being shut down in July with a left elbow strain. Whisenhunt was able to avoid Tommy John surgery, and the team believes he’ll be ready to return to full action by Spring Training.

Whisenhunt maintained a 2.45 ERA while striking out 83 batters in 58 ⅔ innings across 16 starts for Single-A San Jose, High-A Eugene and Double-A Richmond this year. He was one of only nine pitchers in the Minors to complete at least 58 innings and post an ERA better than 2.50 and a K/9 of at least 12.7.

Last year, his career trajectory was unexpectedly thrown out of whack when a suspension wiped out his final season at East Carolina University and he was limited to just 31 total innings across four leagues. Few players participate in the Cape Cod or Arizona Fall Leagues during their Draft year. But Whisenhunt, a 2022 second-rounder, pitched in both to make up for lost time.

Despite all he’s been through, the 23-year-old still ranks as MLB Pipeline’s fifth-best left-handed pitching prospect. The 6-foot-3 southpaw’s headlining weapon is his 70-grade changeup, which sits in the low-90s and seems to find a way to drop right at the plate. The offering generated a 59 percent swing-and-miss rate during his sophomore season at ECU in 2021.

The third-ranked Giants prospect pairs the changeup with a low-to-mid-90s fastball and a slower curveball that still needs time to develop. He’s traditionally shown better command than he did last season, which is to be expected after so much time off. And the club hopes he can add more life to his fastball as he gets stronger. But the changeup should carry him pretty far.

“I'd say the biggest thing is I throw [the changeup] just like my fastball,” Whisenhunt told MLB.com last October. “If something’s different with it, I know I'm trying to do too much, or I'm not throwing it like I should be. Having that feel and knowing what I need to do with that pitch every time [is big].”

The Winston-Salem native had a distinguished two-way career at Davie County High School in North Carolina. He earned attention from national scouts on the showcase circuit throughout high school but went undrafted in 2019.

Whisenhunt saw more time as a outfielder on an ECU team that also featured Gavin Williams and Alec Burleson during the 2020 season. He went hitless with two walks in seven at-bats and appeared in just one game as a reliever before the pandemic ended the season prematurely. He moved to the mound full time with the High Point-Thomasville HiToms in the Coastal Plains League that summer and joined the ECU rotation in 2021.

He showcased that elite changeup over 13 starts, posting a 3.77 ERA with 79 punchouts over 62 innings, during which he only allowed seven extra-base hits.

Whisenhunt was well-positioned to solidify his case as a first-round talent in 2022. But before he could get on the mound, he tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug and was suspended from NCAA play for the entire season. Whisenhunt said the positive result came from a supplement he bought at a national nutrition store chain.

On the heels of the suspension, Whisenhunt had the unique distinction of being a Draft-eligible prospect in the Cape Cod League. He flashed some first-round potential despite posting a 7.88 ERA for the Chatham Anglers in four starts, the last of which came two weeks before the Draft.

The time off did seem to cause Whisenhunt to fall in the Draft. The Giants scooped him up with the final pick in the second round at No. 66 overall. Whisenhunt eventually signed an above-slot deal with San Francisco for a reported $1,868,720.

Following the Draft, he made his professional debut in the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League. He struck out seven of the 10 batters he faced and allowed one hit in his two ACL outings before moving onto San Jose.

Whisenhunt pitched a total of 4 ⅔ scoreless innings in two starts at San Jose, allowing five total hits and a walk while striking out seven. The Giants continued to get Whisenhunt more innings in the Arizona Fall League, where he posted a 2.84 ERA with 11 punchouts in 6 ⅓ innings for Scottsdale.

Things started to return to normal for Whisenhunt at the start of the 2023 season. He carved through the California League, posting a 3.29 ERA with 20 punchouts in 13 ⅓ innings, and was promoted to Eugene by the end of April.

He hit another gear in the Northwest League, allowing just one run in his first 19 ⅔ innings. By the time he was promoted to Richmond in June, he compiled a 1.42 ERA and held opposing batters to a .107 average in six starts for the Emeralds.

Whisenhunt made six more starts at Double-A and pitched a scoreless inning, striking out two, at the All-Star Futures Game before getting injured. He held a 3.20 ERA and struck out 27 over 19 ⅔ total innings in the Eastern League and made three consecutive scoreless starts before being shut down.

The Giants boast six pitchers among their top 10 prospects and 16 within their top 30, including top-ranked lefty Kyle Harrison. It took some patience, but Harrison saw his first big-league action this season. If Whisenhunt can return to form this spring, he may soon follow in Harrison’s path to San Francisco.