Solano’s strained calf deals big blow to Giants
Second baseman placed on the 10-day injured list
The Giants will be without one of their best hitters for at least the next 10 days and possibly much longer than that.
The club announced Thursday that second baseman Donovan Solano would be placed on the
10-day injured list after straining his right calf while running the bases in Philadelphia on Wednesday.
“We’re still kind of going through the initial examination period,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “Last night, he wasn’t great getting off the plane. I know today he was feeling a little bit better, but I don’t really want to go too far out in advance.”
With Solano headed to the injured list, hard-throwing righthanded relief prospect Gregory Santos was added to the 26-man roster and will provide depth in a bullpen that features another exciting pitching prospect who recently made his debut, Camilo Doval.
Santos, 21, was acquired alongside right-hander Shaun
Anderson in the 2017 trade that sent Eduardo Núñez to the Boston Red Sox. The Dominican Republic native has never thrown a pitch above the Low-A level in a minor league game, but recently topped out at 101 miles per hour with his fastball at the Giants’ alternate site.
“The velocity is encouraging but all the velocity in the world doesn’t help if you’re not able to attack the strike zone,” Kapler said. “The fact that he’s throwing his slider for strikes gives us confidence here.”
Santos was possibly in line for his debut Thursday as the Giants were short-handed in the bullpen after each of their last two starting pitchers, Logan Webb and Anthony DeSclafani, completed just four innings.
“He’s been built up to (throw) potentially more than one inning, potentially oneplus,” Kapler said. “I’m not saying we’d go out and really
extend him, but it wouldn’t be out of the question that we could get more than three outs from him.”
A close friend of Doval’s, Santos said he watched his teammate “look like a veteran” in his debut on Sunday against the Marlins but he didn’t think he’d be reunited with him in the near future.
“I’m very happy that I’m taking another step in my career,” Santos said through Spanish language interpreter Erwin Higueros. “I was aware that I was doing really good over there at the alternate site, but never did I think I would be called up so soon.”
Santos was a starter throughout his minor league career, but after being added to the Giants’ 40-man roster this offseason, the organization asked him and another right-handed prospect, Kervin Castro, to transition to the bullpen. Ranked as the 13thbest prospect in the Giants’ organization by MLB.com, Santos embraced the move and realized it put him on the fast track to the majors.
“It’s the same baseball,”
Santos said. “The difference is that being a starter, I had five days to get myself ready, being a reliever now, I have to be physically and mentally ready if I’m needed every single day.”
By adding Santos, the Giants are sacrificing some of their offensive depth off the bench at a point when several of their position players are dealing with minor injuries. Neither Brandon Belt or Brandon Crawford were in the starting lineup Thursday against Miami lefty Daniel Castano as Belt is still dealing with some right quad soreness while Crawford is considered day-to-day due to rib soreness.
Kapler indicated Belt was available off the bench, but the team will continue to evaluate Crawford.
The biggest blow to the Giants’ depth is losing Solano, who pulled up between second and third base following a bloop single from left fielder Alex Dickerson in the sixth inning of Wednesday’s series finale in Philadelphia. At full speed, it’s possible Solano would have been able to score a run that would have proven
critical in a 6-5 walk-off loss, but he limped into third base before exiting the field with a member of the Giants’ training staff.
Kapler said Wednesday Solano’s injury weakens the Giants’ bench because he’s often the best available hitter when he’s not starting games. The reigning National League Silver Slugger Award at second base has seen a handful of starts against righthanded pitchers this season, but earns most of his starts against lefties. Solano has often finished games he didn’t start at second base as he’ll enter as a pinch-hitter and stay in the game as a defensive replacement.
With Solano out, the Giants anticipate Tommy La Stella, Wilmer Flores and Mauricio Dubón will handle the playing time at second base. La Stella has played some third base this year to help give Evan Longoria days off while Flores has earned most of his starts at first base against left-handed starters, but both could see more at-bats at second base while Solano is out.