Kai-Wei

Teng

Teng walked two and struck out two on the night. The lone tally against him came on a sacrifice fly by Victor Scott II in his final frame. The 27-year-old hurler got five whiffs on 49 pitches in the ballgame, registering a strong CSW of 35 percent. He has looked sharp through his first four Grapefruit League outings, compiling a 3.12 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and a 6/6 K/BB ratio over 8 2/3 innings.

The Astros had Jason Alexander and J.P. France work in front of Teng today, but Teng outshone them, essentially retiring seven straight while having to pitch around a Jeremy Peña error. There’s not going to be room for any of those three in Houston’s rotation unless someone gets hurt, but Teng is the most interesting of the bunch.

Teng spent most of last year pitching in relief in Triple-A and racked up an impressive 89 strikeouts in 57 innings. However, the Giants needed him as a starter late. He wound up with a 6.37 ERA in his seven starts and one relief appearance, but that came with a fine 28% strikeout rate and only two homers allowed in 29 2/3 innings. He certainly has the varied arsenal necessary to start, but he seems more interesting in relief as a potential setup man. Of course, the Astros might have a couple of fixes in mind that would give him more promise in the rotation.

For the Giants, this is about freeing up a spot on the 40-man to make room for Harrison Bader, and in return, they’ll get a 21-year-old catcher. The Astros will DFA J.P. France to make room for Teng.

The HBPs all came on breaking balls, which isn’t surprising; Teng threw 48 of those tonight, compared to just 26 four-seamers and sinkers. Teng struck out six and allowed just one hit, though it was a homer. He should be in line for a bounce-back outing in his season finale at home against the Rockies, making him a strong streaming option.

Teng struck out five and walked one in a nice rebound from last week’s outing against the Cardinals. He now has a 6.41 ERA and a 33/15 K/BB in 26 2/3 innings over the course of six starts and one relief appearance for the Giants. He’ll probably face the Dodgers on Saturday.

Teng struck out eight over four scoreless innings to start things off, but he then walked the bottom three hitters in the Cardinals lineup to start the fifth and gave up an RBI single to Lars Noobaar. He was pulled at that point, and all three inherited runners came around to score off José Buttó. Maybe we should focus more on the first four innings, but Teng was facing an awful lineup today, and his stuff just wasn’t particularly impressive. He dropped to 2-4 with a 7.54 ERA, and it’s unclear whether he’ll start again with the Giants having Thursday off and Carson Whisenhunt on the way back.

Weng had the privilege of facing the Rockies in his sport start, and he took advantage of it. He did allow nine hits, but both runs came in the sixth inning after he had exited the game. The 26-year-old has had some decent moments, but his fantasy value is basically limited — at least for 2025 — to when he faces terrible lineups. He gets the Cardinals on Sunday.

Teng draws the starting assignment for Monday’s series opener against the Rockies at Coors Field in place of an injured Carson Whisenhunt. The 26-year-old is not a recommended fantasy option after struggling to an inflated 8.78 ERA, 1.73 WHIP and 12/9 K/BB ratio across 13 1/3 innings (four appearances, three starts) this season in the big leagues.

It’s not the worst outcome for Whisenhunt to miss a potentially disastrous start at high-octane Coors Field, but the fact it’s for physical reasons is concerning. It sounds like there’s a chance he’s headed to the injured list. It’ll be Kai-Wei Teng taking the ball in his place if he’s not ready for Monday’s contest.