The Giants have signed right-hander Jeremy Walker, he announced Wednesday on Instagram (h/t: Mark W. Sanchez of KNBR). It’s presumably a minor league contract for Walker, whom the Braves released Feb. 12.
Walker was a 2016 fifth-round pick of the Braves who made his major league debut with the team in 2019, when he put up 9 1/3 innings of two-run ball with six strikeouts, four walks and a 57.1 percent groundball rate. He wasn’t able to follow up on that solid performance last year, though, owing in part to a shoulder impingement that sidelined him for 2020.
At the minor league level, Walker has also kept runs off the board while inducing plenty of grounders and limiting walks. In 2019, for instance, he recorded a 2.88 ERA with more than a strikeout per inning and a little over one walk per nine across 81 1/3 frames between Double-A and Triple-A ball. Based on Walker’s production as a pro, he seems like a worthwhile buy-low addition for the Giants.