San Francisco Giants: Breaking down new reliever Kyle Barraclough

The San Francisco Giants have officially claimed former Miami Marlins reliever Kyle Barraclough off waivers. Here is a breakdown of the waiver claim.

The San Francisco Giants made the decision at the trade deadline to ship away much of their bullpen depth. However, the recent waiver claim of reliever Kyle Barraclough could serve to bolster some of that depth.

New team president Farhan Zaidi has been incredibly active on the waiver wire in his first season with the Giants. Most of his waiver claims have turned into very little but some have actually managed to make a pretty sizable impact.

The most notable of which is outfielder Alex Dickerson who has been a revelation for the team since being claimed off waivers from the San Diego Padres back in June.

However, most of the Giants’ waiver claims have been hitters given their already strong pitching staff. But following the trades of Sam Dyson, Mark Melancon, and Drew Pomeranz, the Giants bullpen wasn’t looking nearly as deep as it had been.

That’s why the addition of Barraclough does make a ton of sense.

Barraclough struggled mightily this year in his first season with the Washington Nationals pitching to a disastrous 6.66 ERA — a figure only the devil himself could appreciate. On top of that, his 11.6 H/9 and 2.8 HR/9 are both career highs by a wide margin.

The Nationals were counting on Barraclough to be a reliable seventh or eight inning man this season but it’s clear that that plan has been a complete failure. Washington acquired Barraclough in a trade last October from the Miami Marlins where he had spent the previous four seasons.

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The 29-year-old burst on to the scene back in 2015 and followed his impressive rookie season up with three consecutive years with an ERA of 3.00 or lower. And while his 2018 season started off strong, he faltered his way to a 4.20 ERA after being handed the closer role.

Barraclough will be looking to rehab his major-league career in what could be an incredible story of hometown redemption. The hard-throwing right-hander is from nearby Santa Clara and played college ball at St. Mary’s.

In fact, Barraclough even grew up as a fan of the Giants.

It could be a really amazing homecoming, but the comeback trail will first begin in Sacramento as the Giants have officially assigned him to Triple-A for the time being.

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Barraclough still has three minor-league options left and will be arbitration-eligible this offseason so he has a good chance of sticking around in the organization at least through next year.

Perhaps Barraclough could follow a similar path to now-former Giants reliever Sam Dyson. Dyson was acquired by the Giants in June of 2017 after he was designated for assignment by the Texas Rangers.

Dyson had prior MLB success — much like Barraclough — but struggled in a closer role which destroyed his confidence — also like Barraclough. Perhaps Barraclough could benefit from a change of scenery and revitalize his career in San Francisco just as Dyson did.

That all remains to be seen but at the very least this move gives the Giants more bullpen depth after the team stripped their Triple-A team of most of that depth.

With Barraclough, Giants fans should have a hometown hero to cheer for before long.