Giants beat:
Dubón impresses in center.
Mauricio Dubón doesn’t have much experience in center field, but he made a play Wednesday as if he manned the position his entire life — he also showed how the new Oracle Park dimensions present a different element for outfielders.
Dubón, a middle infielder by trade, got a nice jump on Tyler Heine
man’s long drive in the second inning of an intrasquad game, chased down the ball in rightcenter and took a few steps to slow down before gently leaping against the padded wall to brace himself.
With last year’s ballpark configuration, Dubón wouldn’t have gotten close to the wall. But dead center has been moved in from 399 feet to 391, so the park is a bit cozier for defenders.
“He got a great read on the ball. He looked really good out there,” infielder Wilmer Flores said. “I think he’ll be fine. He’s so athletic. I think if he can play shortstop like he does, he can play center field. I don’t think he’ll have any trouble out there.”
Dubón, who slapped an oppositefield single in the fifth inning and stole third, could get significant time in center, especially with the uncertainty of Billy Hamilton, who’s on the 10day injured list.
Mike Yastrzemski also is in the centerfield mix, and manager Gabe Kapler said if the two were in the outfield together, Dubón would play center.
“Obviously, that was a great catch today,” Kapler said, “but he’s also improving with his reads and routes. His work has been awesome, and he’s been able to do all of that while getting work on the dirt as well, which is especially encouraging as we visualize a pretty effective utility player. It certainly makes our job easier when he can move around the diamond.”
Bart’s day: Though management continues to say Joey Bart needs more development, Bart continues to impress both offensively and defensively.
Wednesday, the catcher smoked a double to center and threw out Yastrzemski trying to steal second.
When Flores was asked which prospect in camp has impressed him, he didn’t hesitate. “I really like Joey Bart’s approach. He can hit the ball hard. He has really impressed me. I didn’t get to see him in spring training, but I’m getting to see him now, and he’s really got some pop.”
However, the decisionmakers don’t seem to be changing their minds.
“We see Joey as a player who can really benefit from more reps in the batter’s box, more opportunities to game plan and more opportunities to work with really great playerdevelopment and majorleague coaches,” Kapler said.
“We’ve been having this conversation now for several weeks and stayed with a really strong conviction that Joey’s best path to being an excellent majorleague player is through more repetition and a little bit more time to develop.”
Briefly: Carlos Navas ,a 10year minorleaguer, might be pitching himself onto the roster. He started for Team Orange and struck out four in two scoreless innings. “Dependable, professional and predictable,” Kapler said. “You need pieces like that in your bullpen, where the staff and his teammates really believe in him on a majorleague roster. He’s making a nice push.” ... Brandon Belt (sore heel) continued swinging in the cage and also took grounders at first base . ... Hunter Pence hadn’t been running because of a sore foot but jogged toward first after hitting a slow roller.