Conforto's return to OF, two-way player's most impressive outing yet
>> Michael Conforto can hit.
That much, if it was ever in doubt, was proven yet again in the first inning Thursday of the Giants' Cactus League exhibition against the Milwaukee Brewers. Conforto launched the first strike he saw over the right field wall for his third home run in as many spring games.
What's in question is Conforto's ability in the outfield following shoulder surgery last April. On Thursday, that was supposed to begin to to yield answers, as Conforto roamed right field — or any position — for the first time since October 2021, before he suffered an offseason training accident in last January that robbed him of his 2022 season.
However, in six innings in right field, not a single ball made it Conforto's way.
“I probably won't get another game like that all year,” Conforto said. “Pretty good seats to watch the game.”
It was a milestone nonetheless just to be standing on the outfield grass, the final step of an arduous, 11-month rehab process.
So enthusiastic to take the field again, Conforto was the second player out of the dugout as he jogged out to right field for the first time in the top of the first. (The only player quicker than him was Sean Hjelle, whom nobody was going to beat, with the pitch clock limiting warmup time between innings.)
An hour and 15 minutes before first pitch, Conforto was already in uniform.
“I was ready to rock,” Conforto said.
That much is good news for the Giants, who signed Conforto counting on him to be ready to line up in their Opening Day outfield and in the middle of their batting order. Although president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi indicated that San Francisco would go with Mitch Haniger in right and Conforto in left, as he regained arm strength, the Giants are working out each outfielder in both spots this spring.
“I'm confident in his defense because he's healthy,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “He's a good defender when he's healthy.” GUZMÁN'S BEST OUTING YET >> When the seventh inning was complete, Ronald Guzmán and his hulking 6-5, 235 frame returned to the dugout with a message.
“That's me,” the Giants' first baseman-turned-lefthanded-reliever/two-way player exclaimed, according to Kapler.
In his third outing on the mound this spring, Guzmán struck out the side and didn't allow a baserunner, or a single piece of contact. He threw his mid-80s slider for strikes — deploying it to get his first two victims looking — and threw three straight to Jesse Winker, before blowing a 98 mph fastball by him.
Guzmán, a former top prospect who made the majors as a first baseman, signed with the Giants this offseason after they saw him on the mound. They were, according to Guzmán, the one club that assured him the chance to both pitch and hit.