Former Guardians reliever makes big league return with slumping Giants 

Sam Hentges is back. 

While it was easy to forget about him considering he hadn’t appeared in a big league game since July 2024, the lanky left-handed reliever is finally healthy and made his return to a big league mound on Sunday. 

Only it wasn’t with the Guardians. After spending all of last season rehabbing at the Guardians’ Arizona complex, Cleveland’s front office still elected to non-tender Hentges after the season, where he quickly found a new home with the San Francisco Giants. 

The Bay Area officially became his home Sunday, as he made his season debut and retired the only batter he faced in the Giants’ 7-6 walk-off win over the Pirates. 

Sam Hentges should see plenty of action in the Giants’ bullpen 

Hentges' big league tenure with the Guardians began in 2021 when he appeared in 30 games while moving between the starting rotation and bullpen while posting an unsightly 6.68 ERA.

But that proved to be the precursor of his best time with the Guardians. After switching between two roles in 2022, he became a full-time reliever in 2022 and ended up posting a 2.32 ERA in 62 innings. 

He had another solid season in 2023 (3.61 ERA in 52 1/3 innings) and got off to a great start in 2024 with a 3.04 ERA in 23 2/3 innings before being placed on the injured list with left elbow inflammation that eventually resulted in him undergoing Tommy John surgery. 

While that surgery resulted in him missing all of the 2025 season, the Guardians still kept him in the fold via a one-year, $1,377,500 deal. 

Hentges never ended up appearing in a game at any level last season, which was enough for the Guardians to decide to remove him from the roster. He lingered in free agency for about a month before signing a deal with the Giants on Thanksgiving. 

He ended up appearing in 10 games in the minors this season on his rehab assignment across two levels and posted a 1.93 ERA in 9 1/3 innings with eight strikeouts and six walks. 

Hentges is joining a disappointing Giants team that has a 16-24 record and is already eight games back in the loaded National League West. 

Not much has gone right for them this season, as they only have one everyday player hitting better than .300 (Luis Arraez) and just had to place ace Logan Webb on the injured list. 

Their bullpen has been slightly above league average this season (3.85 ERA), but their high-leverage hierarchy is all out of whack thanks to Ryan Walker’s struggles and Erik Miller’s injury. It won’t take much for Hentges to work his way into that picture. 

They’ve already traded catcher Patrick Bailey to the Guardians, and it seems like a bigger fire sale could be on the horizon if they don’t turn things around.

While Hentges alone won’t be able to turn those problems around, adding him should give their bullpen a little more thump.

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