{"id":788835,"date":"2026-08-26T11:33:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T11:33:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/788835\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T11:33:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T11:33:19","slug":"san-francisco-giants-carson-whisenhunt-has-torn-ucl-mri-exam-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/788835\/","title":{"rendered":"San Francisco Giants’ Carson Whisenhunt has torn UCL, MRI exam shows"},"content":{"rendered":"

As anticipated, Carson Whisenhunt has a torn UCL and while the San Francisco Giants <\/a>rookie was still scheduled to meet with team doctors Tuesday night, Tommy John surgery already is considered the best option for him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Manager Tony Vitello<\/a> described Whisenhunt as being in \u201crelatively good spirits,\u201d but said surgery \u201cis probably going to be needed and then he\u2019ll start his climb back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shortstop Willy Adames<\/a> also has a UCL injury, a sprain incurred on a play at the plate Sunday. It\u2019s his non-throwing (left) elbow, so it\u2019s possible that rest and rehab will be all that\u2019s required.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something that I think he can work to rehab, see where it\u2019s at, get it reevaluated and then go from there,\u201d Vitello said. \u201cThere\u2019s kind of a wide range of possibilities if you\u2019re looking at what date he\u2019s going to come back. \u2026 For now, some well-deserved downtime. I know it\u2019s not wanted, but it\u2019s well deserved.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Whisenhunt out, the Giants could turn to left-hander Matt \u201cTugboat\u201d Wilkinson, sent down before Monday\u2019s game; he\u2019s likely to be the 27th player for Saturday\u2019s split doubleheader against Arizona. Cesar Perdomo, who\u2019s not on the 40-man roster, is 4-0 with a 3.24 ERA at Triple-A Sacramento this month should the team want to take a look at the 24-year-old left-hander.<\/p>\n

Reliever Anthony Molina, called up Monday, and Spencer Bivens, recalled Tuesday, both can work multiple innings so the occasional bullpen game might be in the cards. Carson Seymour, already in the bullpen, mostly has started in the minors.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the door is open for some of the guys that we have in the organization who are teetering on \u2018Is this guy going to be a starter or not?\u2019\u201d Vitello said. \u201cThe opportunity is there more than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Giants already have two of their top young starters,\u00a0Hayden Birdsong<\/a> and Trevor McDonald, out after UCL repairs, and closer Randy Rodriguez, too, is rehabbing after Tommy John surgery. \u00a0Recovery time typically is 12-14 months.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Whisenhunt, 25, was 3-4 with a 6.49 ERA in eight starts this season and opponents batted .293 against him, but he had some standout appearances, including a strong outing against Houston on the last homestand, working 5\u2154 innings and allowing one run.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s at a point in his career where he\u2019s established he\u2019s a big-league starter,\u201d Vitello said. \u201cIf you give him 10 outings, I really feel like he\u2019s going to give you five real good ones, where if you play good ball and you score a few runs, you\u2019ll win those.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know he\u2019s got higher ambitions, I\u2019m not trying to limit him, not saying he can\u2019t be a 15-game winner or whatever it is. \u2026 I think there\u2019s growth to be had there mentally and with preparation. And sometimes this time off serves guys pretty well. They can get other parts stronger, they can dive a little more into video, fresh of mind when they come back. And he\u2019s got that experience to lean on. For now, I think he\u2019s in a good spot. The future is bright, it\u2019s fair to say.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As anticipated, Carson Whisenhunt has a torn UCL and while the San Francisco Giants rookie was still scheduled…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":788836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2290],"tags":[5,14558,162,66,185],"class_list":["post-788835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-baseball","tag-baseball","tag-carson-whisenhunt","tag-giants","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117161597613665431","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=788835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/788836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=788835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=788835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=788835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}