SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants got concerning news on reliever José Buttó, who was diagnosed with a blood clot in his right arm and will undergo a procedure on Friday to have it removed.
Buttó landed on the 15-day injured list with right arm fatigue after his velocity dipped during a rough relief outing against the Padres on Wednesday, when he surrendered four runs on three hits and four walks while recording only one out.
The Giants initially described Buttó’s injury as right elbow/forearm tightness, though the blood clot issue was discovered after the 28-year-old was evaluated by Dr. Jason Lee, a vascular surgeon at the Stanford Medical Center, on Friday. The club expects to have another update on Buttó on Saturday.
Manager Tony Vitello said Buttó previously dealt with some circulation issues when he was with the Mets, who dealt the Venezuelan hurler to the Giants as part of the Tyler Rogers trade last July.
“It seems like this is something that occurred before he was with the Giants, or at least [he had] symptoms of it,” Vitello said. “So maybe this has been building up for a while. For him to be at a crossroads, finally, where he knows what the problem is and it's kind of boiled over -- it’s unfortunate that he's not with us and active on the mound, but I think everybody likes the guy so much.
“Everybody's concern immediately is going to be with someone's health. But he's a very, very, very well-liked and well-respected guy. Everyone was concerned right away. I think the fact it's not worst-case scenario, or it could be worse, is good. Long story short, time will tell if it's a decent layoff or an extended layoff.”
Vitello said the Giants won’t know how much time Buttó will miss until he undergoes the procedure, as there are a couple of different surgical options on the table for him right now.
It might not be a fully analogous situation, but it’s worth noting that Giants right-hander Tristan Beck also underwent surgery to remove an aneurysm in his right arm in March 2024. Beck spent most of the season on the IL, but he started a rehab assignment in August 2024 and managed to return to the Majors in September.
Buttó fired 5 2/3 scoreless innings over five appearances to help Venezuela win the World Baseball Classic title last month, but he got off to a bumpy start to the year for the Giants. He allowed five runs on six hits -- including a pair of homers to the Yankees’ Giancarlo Stanton and the Padres’ Ramón Laureano -- over two innings in his first three relief outings of 2026.
With Buttó likely out indefinitely, the Giants will have to lean on other emerging right-handers such as Keaton Winn, Caleb Kilian and Blade Tidwell to continue to step up and fortify the bullpen. Tidwell, who came over from the Mets alongside Buttó in the Rogers trade, earned a rare three-inning save in his Giants debut on Thursday, while Winn and Kilian have combined to pitch 5 2/3 scoreless innings in their first five appearances of the year.
“I think we had more confidence as a coaching staff in that group than other people,” Vitello said. “We saw that there’s really good pieces.”
Schmitt scratched
Casey Schmitt was scratched from the Giants’ starting lineup with lower back tightness on Friday, allowing Jerar Encarnacion to get his first start of the season at first base. Encarnacion grounded out in his lone pinch-hit appearance against the Padres on Wednesday, which was his first at-bat of 2026.