Smith still looms large in Opening Day picture
PEORIA, Ariz. — In the competition to become Mark Melancon’s principal setup man, do not sleep on left-hander Will Smith.
Smith largely has been forgotten this spring because of an elbow injury, but he debuted with a scoreless inning against the Rockies on Friday night and could challenge Derek Law and Hunter Strickland for eighth-inning supremacy.
He made a great impression after his midseason acquisition from Milwaukee and finished 2016 with 18 consecutive scoreless outings.
Smith figures to have five more outings before Opening Day and believes he will be ready. He was happy not only to pitch with no pain in his elbow, or the knee that he freakishly injured last spring while removing a shoe, but also to rise Saturday feeling just as good.
The more Smith pitches, the more he can prove to a staff that has not seen him for a full season that he deserves more lateinning responsibility.
“You always want to have a good spring anyway, just confidence-wise, going into the season. After being here for two months last year, to be able to show the coaching staff what I can do a little bit more, sure, why not?”
Parker impresses: Jarrett Parker has done all he can to secure the left-field job, at least against right-handed pitchers. He singled and hit his fourth homer in Saturday’s 6-5 loss to Seattle. Parker held up on a 2-2 Hisashi Iwakuma slider in the dirt, fought off two pitches and then hammered a ball onto the berm near the batter’s eye.
Moreover, manager Bruce Bochy likes the way Parker has played in left field.
“He’s getting good jumps and he’s focused,” Bochy said. “He’s throwing out some good at-bats. His discipline has improved so much. Even though he’s shortened up, he hasn’t sacrificed power. He needed to mature as a hitter and he’s doing it.”
Thrill is here: Will Clark arrived for his annual camp visit Friday, later than usual because he underwent hipreplacement surgery in January.
Clark works as a part-time instructor during the season, mostly seeing Double-A Richmond, Va., and low Class A Augusta, Ga., because he can get there fairly easily from his home in Baton Rouge, La.
The former Giant had resisted full-time coaching work because he wanted to be home to help raise his son, Trey, who is autistic. But Trey is now grown and Clark expanded his role last year at general manager Bobby Evans’ behest, seeing the minor leaguers every other week and occasionally coming to San Francisco to work with big leaguers.
Briefly: Third baseman Jaegyun Hwang was scratched as a precaution and is being watched for concussion symptoms after a bad hop hit him in the head as he took grounders. ... Reliever Cory Gearrin, who had a fingernail issue, is ready to pitch again. … Second baseman Joe Panik, the longesttenured Giant not yet eligible for
arbitration, signed a $600,000 contract for 2017.