Right-handed Ross Stripling exercised his $12.5 million player option for next season, per KNBR.com’s Danny Emerman. Stripling, 34 this month, will return to the Giants for the 2024 season rather than test the open market. The move is no surprise, especially given that Stripling himself announced back in September that he was expected to exercise his player option.
After signing a two-year, $25 million guaranteed contract with the Giants last winter following a strong platform season in Toronto, Stripling has struggled mightily in San Francisco this year. The right-hander threw just 89 innings in 22 appearances with the Giants this year, including 11 starts. In addition to posting his lowest full-season innings total since 2017, Stripling also struggled to produce results. His strikeout rate fell from 20.7% in 2022 to just 18.4% this year, while his walk rate rose from 3.7% to 4.2%.
While those odds were both trending in the wrong direction, K-BB’s marginal loss doesn’t compare to the massive home run problem Stripling faced in 2023. Despite the fact that only Comerica Park in Detroit and PNC Park in San Francisco suppressed home runs at a higher rate than Stripling’s home stadium of Oracle Park, the right-hander left the yard for home runs on a whopping 22% of his fly balls that year. Not only was that number a full-season career high, matched only by Stripling’s 22.8% in the shortened 2022 season, but it was also the second-highest rate in the majors this year, narrowly surpassed by Phillies righty Christopher Sanchez with 22.2%. With Stripling allowing more than two home runs per nine innings in 2023, it’s no surprise that Stripling’s ERA of 5.36 and FIP of 5.21 were the worst marks of his career for an entire season.
Still, there is reason for optimism that Stripling could improve on his 2023 campaign next year. Finally, he missed two months in two different IL stints this year due to back problems, suggesting he may not have been fully healthy for most of the season. Better health and fortunes in terms of the number of his fly balls leaving the yard for home runs in 2024 could dramatically improve Stripling’s effectiveness next year; Finally, some advanced metrics have rated Stripling positively even during this brutal season, as evidenced by his xFIP of 3.98 (9% better than league average) and his SIERA of 4.13.
The Giants are still waiting on option decisions from the left-hander Sean Manaea And Michael Conforto, both of whom can also return to the open market instead of playing out the final year of the two-year contracts they signed with the club last winter. Meanwhile, San Francisco faces a decision that affects the veteran right-hander himself Alex Cobb. Manaea and Conforto are both reportedly undecided about whether or not they will return in free agency this offseason, while Cobb’s option, once an obvious choice for San Francisco to play sports, could be clouded by recent hip surgery , which is designed to keep him out of action until Opening Day 2024.