La Stella exits game vs. A’s with an injury
La Stella leaves loss to Oakland with injury, Ramos wins spring award from teammates
Tommy La Stella was forced to exit Sunday’s exhibition against the A’s shortly after being hit by a pitch.
Hours after the San Francisco Giants made three cuts that appeared to firm up their Opening Day roster plans, infielder Tommy La Stella was forced to exit Sunday’s 9-3 exhibition loss against the Oakland A’s shortly after being hit by a pitch.
After showing bunt in an 0-1 count, La Stella took a third inning breaking ball from A’s starter Daulton Jeffries off of his lower left leg and hobbled down to first base. The versatile infielder initially stayed in the game, but was removed from the game by manager Gabe Kapler after he was slow to get up following an effort to break up a 6-4-3 double play hit by Donovan Solano.
Kapler said postgame La
Stella was diagnosed with a “left knee contusion” and will be listed as day-to-day.
“It was sore as he was running and we just wanted to get him out of there,” Kapler said. “He said he could continue playing and my feeling is if you’re not 100%, there’s no reason to continue playing.”
If La Stella’s injury turns out to be more serious, the team will have to reconsider what its initial 26-man roster will look like.
Prior to Sunday’s game, the Giants optioned outfielder and first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. to minor league camp, signaling that first baseman Brandon
Belt will be healthy and ready to go for Opening Day. Belt didn’t make his Cactus League debut until pinch-hitting on Wednesday against San Diego as he was rehabbing a right heel injury while recovering from bouts with COVID-19 and mononucleosis, but he’s reported feeling healthy and has said recently that playing Thursday’s seasonopener in Seattle remains a goal of his.
“We feel pretty confident that assuming we don’t have any setbacks, Brandon is going to be on our Opening Day roster and we feel pretty good about that at his point,” Kapler said Sunday.
Wade would likely be a top candidate to make the roster if La Stella requires a stint on the injured list, but infielder Jason Vosler may also be a fit if the Giants want someone whose defensive profile resembles what La Stella offers the club.
Aside from optioning Wade, the Giants also reassigned pitchers Scott Kazmir and Shun Yamaguchi to minor league camp, leaving San Francisco with 31 players heading into Monday’s final exhibition game. The Giants must trim their roster to 26 prior to their first regular season game, and most of their decisions depend on how Kapler and president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi plan to structure the bullpen.
One of their top non-roster hopefuls, right-hander Zack Littell, threw a scoreless inning in Sunday’s game against Oakland. Littell has four consecutive scoreless appearances, but is battling with impressive long relief candidate Nick Tropeano and another righty, hard-throwing veteran Dominic Leone, for the chance to break camp with the team. The Giants may keep more than one of their non-roster invitees, but doing so would require the team to clear multiple 40-man roster spots.
As a handful of players compete for the final jobs, the Giants have begun to hide their veteran starting pitchers from game action. A day after right-hander Kevin Gausman threw a simulated game for his final spring tuneup, Johnny Cueto followed, giving lefthander Conner Menez an opportunity to face Oakland.
“He got through it clean,” Kapler said of Cueto’s outing in which he appeared in six simulated innings. “I’d call it a professional outing.”
Kapler has said the Giants like simulated games because they maintain the ability to control how hard their pitchers are working and how many pitches they’re throwing in each inning.
The Giants will hold an intrasquad game Tuesday in Scottsdale before departing for Seattle where they will hold an optional workout on Wednesday at T-Mobile Park.
RAMOS WINS BARNEY NUGENT AWARD >> Giants outfield prospect Heliot Ramos can’t wait to get to the big leagues and show fans what he has to offer.
Neither can his peers with the Giants, who honored him Sunday for his performance throughout the spring.
The club announced that Ramos won the 2021 Barney Nugent Award, given annually to the player in his first big league camp whose performance and dedication best exemplifies the Giants’ spirit.
“It means a lot to me, they’re my teammates, this is my staff, and it’s nice that they can see that,” Ramos said. “They gave the award to me.”
Ramos said fellow firstyear campers including Will Wilson and Logan Wyatt congratulated him on the honor. Neither of those prospects, nor any others debuting in Giants camp, stood much of a chance against Ramos.
After legging out a double in the eighth inning on Sunday, Ramos is 15-for-36 on the spring with three doubles, three home runs, six RBIs and a stolen base. His power and bat speed have been impressive, but it’s his hustle and desire to improve so he can live out his big league dream that have convinced the Giants he’ll have a long future at Oracle Park.
Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi explained this week that he’ll be keeping close tabs on Ramos.