S.F. demotes Luciano and Bart; hothitting Ramos stays for now
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Catcher Joey Bart and shortstop Marco Luciano, the Giants’ top prospects, were assigned to the minors Monday along with 23 other players — dropping the spring training roster from 74 to 49.
Untouched was another elite prospect, center fielder Heliot Ramos, who has looked fabulous in Cactus League games (10for23 with three homers). All along, Bart and Luciano were expected to open in the minors, but Ramos is sticking around and making decisions tough for the front office.
“We want to reward good performance,” said manager Gabe Kapler, noting it’s not always possible to hold on to productive prospects late in spring training. “In this particular case, we think he’s having a great camp. We just want to see a little bit more. I wouldn’t read anything into it other than rewarding strong performance.”
The moves mostly were procedural because minorleague camps don’t open until April 1. The players cut can continue training with the team, but Monday’s news was a clear indication that players such as outfielder Jaylin Davis and lefty Conner Menez will not make the Opening Day roster.
Bart made his bigleague debut last summer and struggled more than the Giants would have liked, but he was called up because of a lack of catching depth and the Buster Posey optout.
“A very important difference from where we were in the summer to where we are now is we have two established, successful majorleague catchers on our roster, which is important,” said Kapler, referring to Curt Casali and Posey.
“The second thing is, and we’ve said all along, we really do believe Joey could benefit from upperlevel minorleague experience and the confidence that he will gain from having a lot of success from the upper levels in the minor leagues.”
Luciano, 19, was invited to spring training to get reps against bigleaguers, but he went 1for17 with 12 strikeouts, a sign he needs lots more development.
“We’ve seen some plays we know he should make that he hasn’t made, and we’ve seen some plays that we wouldn’t expect him to make and he did make,” Kapler said. “We’ve seen some inconsistency at the plate.
“But again, (18) plate appearances at this point, it really doesn’t tell us much other than we have a workinprogress in Marco Luciano.”
Also cut were outfielder Hunter Bishop (St. Francis High School) and catcher Patrick Bailey, the Giants’ No. 1 draft picks in 2019 and 2020, respectively, along with infielder Will Wilson, a firstround pick by the Angels in 2019.
Camilo Doval, Kervin Castro and Gregory Santos — three hardthrowing relievers highly coveted in the organization — were added to the 40man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 draft.
The Giants are left with 30 pitchers (12 nonroster invitees), two catchers, eight infielders (one nonroster invitee) and nine outfielders (two nonroster invitees).
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr reiterated Monday night that Golden State hopes to have fans at Chase Center before the end of the season.
“I know those talks are ongoing,” Kerr said. “What I’ve noticed is that, even if it’s 2,500 fans, the energy is entirely different. We played the Knicks in the first game that fans were allowed in (Madison Square) Garden probably three, four weeks ago, and it was awesome. Those 2,500 fans were so excited to be at a game. They made their presence felt.
“The Knicks are obviously having a really good season, so there was an energy in that building that was really fun to feel.”
In late January, Warriors president Rick Welts said on NBC Sports Bay Area, “We’re still really hopeful that by the end of the season, we’re going to be able to welcome fans back.” According to a team source, Golden State is specifically hoping that it can have fans at Chase Center by the start of its sixgame homestand to close the regular season that runs from May 616.
In November, the Warriors proposed a detailed plan to allow spectators at home games. The plan, which called for fans to undergo PCR tests before entering Chase Center, was quickly rejected by San Francisco’s Department of Public Health. But city health officials pledged to work with the team to host fans once the pandemic eased, which appears to be happening.
Two weeks ago, San Francisco advanced from California’s purple reopening tier to red as cases continued to drop throughout the Bay Area. That signaled the reopening of indoor dining, with limitations.
In addition to the financial boost reopening Chase Center — even partially — to fans would provide, the Warriors are eager for the jolt of energy spectators offer. Golden State, which entered Monday night’s game against the Lakers ninth in the Western Conference standings at 2019, has struggled at times to play with highlevel effort in empty arenas.
In the four games the Warriors have played in front of fans, they’ve felt a noticeable difference. In addition to that Feb. 23 game against the
Knicks at Madison Square Garden that Kerr referenced, Golden State played in front of 1,932 fans at Utah on Jan. 23, 4,287 fans at Orlando on Feb. 19 and 3,233 fans at Phoenix on March 4.
“I think this season has been a good reminder to all of us just how important the fans are just to the atmosphere, to the energy,” Kerr said. “I think the games are more competitive and more fun to play when there are fans in the stands.”