SAN FRANCISCO -- Twenty five players have qualified for Super Two status, making them arbitration-eligible for the first time, according to MLB True Rumors. The list includes a key member of the Giants bullpen.
Right-hander George Kontos will get a modest raise after the best season of his career. Kontos finished the 2015 season with two years, 171 days of service time, which puts him in the top 22 percent of his class of players who have at least two years of MLB service but have not reached the three-year mark usually required to become arbitration-eligible.
MLB Trade Rumors estimates that Kontos will make about $1 million for the 2016 season. He had a 2.33 ERA and 0.94 WHIP in 2015, but those numbers were skewed by a rough final appearance. Kontos carried a 1.96 ERA into the final day of the season but gave up three runs without recording an out as he tried to pick up the save. Manager Bruce Bochy later said he wanted to reward Kontos because of the impact he made as a middle reliever.
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Kontos did a superb job stranding runners left by starting pitchers and limited opponents to a .159 average with runners in scoring position, which ranked him third in the Majors behind Dellin Betances and Hector Rondon. The 30-year-old had to fight for a job in spring training but now is a lock to make the 2016 club as a valuable weapon for Bochy in the middle to late innings.
Kontos is one of five players on the 40-man roster who is arbitration eligible, along with fellow reliever Yusmeiro Petit, infielders Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt, and catcher Hector Sanchez. Belt also qualified for Super Two status earlier in his career, which accelerated his arbitration clock.