The Giants announced that right-hander Keaton Winn has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to August 19, with right elbow neuritis. Left-hander Reiver Sanmartin has been recalled as the corresponding move.

In the short term, Winn’s absence isn’t a notable loss for the Giants, as they are playing out the string on a lost season. They are 52-74 and 15 games out of a playoff spot. Subtracting Winn from the bullpen for a few weeks won’t change that.

Zooming out to a wider view, it’s part of the ongoing saga of arm issues for Winn. He missed the entire 2021 season due to Tommy John surgery. In 2024, he required nerve transposition surgery in June and missed the second half of that season.

Since then, the Giants have moved him from the rotation to the bullpen, hoping that would help him stay healthy. There have been mixed results there. He spent most of last year in the minors, only pitching ten innings in the big leagues. Here in 2026, he has thrown 43 innings in the majors but an elbow strain put him on the IL for about a month from mid-June to mid-July and now another elbow issue has put him back on the shelf again.

His results this year have been decent. His 18.8% strikeout rate is subpar but his 9.7% walk rate is close to average while his 50% ground ball rate is quite strong. He has a 3.35 earned run average. He is still under club control for four more seasons after this one and won’t qualify for arbitration until after 2027. He could be a key part of the San Francisco bullpen for quite a while but the elbow issues remain a concern.

Photo courtesy of Darren Yamashita, Imagn Images