The Giants trimmed their surplus of young starting pitching on Thursday evening by trading right-hander Kai-Wei Teng to the Houston Astros in exchange for catching prospect Jancel Villarroel and international slot money, the team announced.
By dealing Teng, San Francisco creates an open spot on the 40-man roster for outfielder Harrison Bader, who reportedly agreed to a two-year, $20.5 million deal on Monday. The Giants have yet to officially announce the move.
Teng, 27, is coming off an odd yet intriguing season with San Francisco. On one hand, Teng had a poor ERA (6.37) and unsavory walk rate (5.16 BB/9). On the other, his strikeout rate dramatically spiked (11.83 K/9) and he finished with a respectable FIP (3.81) over eight appearances, including seven starts.
Despite Teng’s interesting profile, the Taiwanese right-hander was likely lower on the organization’s depth chart of starting pitchers behind the likes of Hayden Birdsong, Carson Whisenhunt, Blade Tidwell and Trevor McDonald.
Villarroel signed with the Astros in August of 2022 as an international free agent out of Venezuela and spent last season with the Single-A Fayetteville Woodpeckers (85 games) and High-A Asheville Tourists (15 games).
The 21-year-old mainly caught (54 games) in ’25 but saw time in left field (19 games), right field (four games), second base (seven games) and first base (one game). At the plate, he had a .259/.351/.388 slash line with eight homers, 54 RBIs and 20 steals. Baseball America rated Villarroel as the No. 21 prospect in Houston’s system.
