Tyler

Mahle

Mahle struck out five. His velocity has been holding steady at last year’s level since the beginning of the spring. We were hoping he might be a little stronger — the 92.0 mph he averaged last year was down about two mph from when he did his best work in Cincinnati — but he was, of course, very successful when healthy last season, and he’s in a nice ballpark for covering up his main weakness, the home run ball. He’ll take on the Mets next week.

Mahle has really impressed this spring, and while his velocity has fluctuated, the results are encouraging. The 31-year-old gave up a solo homer to top prospect Bryce Eldridge, and then kept the River Cats from reaching home plate. Mahle is going to pitch in the middle of the Giants’ rotation, and there’s just enough upside to suggest he’s worthy of a roster spot in deeper formats.

Mahle scattered one hit and threw 54 pitches (37 strikes), extending his scoreless innings streak to 10 this spring. The 31-year-old’s durability issues are well documented at this stage of his career, but he remains an effective fantasy contributor when he takes the ball. San Francisco is an ideal landing spot, and he projects as a viable back-end rotation stabilizer in shallow mixed leagues.

Mahle averaged 91.5 mph with his fastball today, which was down 1.1 mph from his first two starts and 0.5 mph from his 2025 average. It’s also kind of odd that he’s already walked seven batters in six innings this spring. Even though he pitched to a 2.18 ERA in his 16 starts for Texas last year, no one wanted to make a big bet on Mahle in the offseason, forcing him to settle on a one-year, $10 million deal with the Giants. He comes with too many question marks to be draft-worthy in mixed leagues right now.

Mahle worked around three walks in the contest. He averaged 92.7 mph with his fastball today after coming in at 92.6 mph last week in his spring debut. Both marks are better than the 92.0 mph he averaged with the Rangers last season.

Mahle was slowed by an illness last week, so he’s a bit behind the rest of the Giants’ starters right now. Fortunately, he has plenty of time with which to catch up. His 92.7-mph average on his fastball today was up 0.7 mph from last year, though well shy of the 94.0 mph he averaged in his best season with the Reds in 2021.

It puts Mahle a little behind, but there’s plenty of time to catch up. The Giants gave the right-hander a one-year, $10 million contract at the beginning of January with the expectation being that he’ll pitch in the middle of the San Francisco rotation in 2026.

The move was announced on December 31st and is official now. Mahle lacks the fastball velocity and the sharpness of his breaking balls than he did in previous seasons prior to injuries, but he did post a 2.18 ERA in his 16 starts with the Rangers last season. His injury history makes it hard to rely on him to stay healthy for a full season, but he should be solid for the Giants when he’s on the mound.

MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand says it’s a done deal, and the New York Post’s Jon Heyman says Mahle will be guaranteed $10 million. Probably not what Giants fans were hoping for in the rotation after a similar addition in Adrian Houser, but maybe there’s still more to come. Mahle did put up a 2.18 ERA in his 16 starts for the Rangers last season, but his peripherals were unimpressive, and he again dealt with shoulder problems. Having undergone Tommy John in 2023, he’s made a total of 24 starts the last three years, and his velocity last season was down two mph from his one completely healthy and productive season with the Reds in 2021.

Mahle missed all summer with his shoulder injury, but he managed to go 6-4 with a 2.18 ERA in his 16 starts this season. His velocity and strikeout rate are down since Tommy John, and he’s qualified for the ERA title just once as a major leaguer, so he’ll be a risky signing this winter. Still, someone might give him a substantial two-year in free agency. After all, Frankie Montas got $34 million last winter.