Another building block for SF Giants’ future?

DENVER — At the end of spring training, Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi acknowledged there was still one hole he needed to fill on the club’s 40man roster.

With Mauricio Dubón expected to earn most of his playing time in the outfield, the Giants still didn’t have enough shortstop depth behind starter Brandon Crawford. The void wasn’t necessarily glaring, but an injury to Crawford or Dubón could have quickly exposed the Giants at one of the most important positions on the diamond.

It took two weeks for Zaidi to address the issue, but his decision to acquire Thairo Estrada continues to pay dividends.

With two more home runs on Monday at Coors Field in a , Estrada is quietly establishing himself as a potential building block for the Giants’ future. The 25-year-old utility man has spent most of the season at Triple-a Sacramento, but in 110 at-bats with the major league club, Estrada has posted a .791 OPS, picked up 20 RBIS and played solid defense at both shortstop and second base.

Estrada has also made cameos in left field, but his immediate future with the organization is likely as a third middle infielder behind Crawford and La Stella, who are both under contract through 2023. With Donovan Solano set to hit free agency and Estrada outperforming Dubón at the plate, the Venezuela native has given Zaidi, general manager Scott Harris and manager Gabe Kapler every reason to believe he can help the club beyond this season.

“He does a great job of using his lower half,” Kapler said following Monday’s performance. “He does a nice job catching the baseball out in front and then elevating it to the pull side which is where the power comes from.”

In the Giants’ on Thursday, Estrada provided the Giants with the knockout blow in the bottom of the eighth inning when he crushed Devin Williams’ famous “Airbender” changeup into the left-field bleachers for a threerun homer. Williams had only given up one extra-base hit to a right-handed hitter prior to Thursday’s game this season and hadn’t allowed a home run on his signature pitch to a righty since Aug. 19, 2019, which was the fourth game of his career.

When Williams missed over the heart of the plate with the offering, Estrada sent the ball soaring.

“He can produce some whip,” Kapler said. “He’s strong, he’s athletic and he’s putting good at-bats together for us.”

Like many of the contributors on the Giants’ roster, Zaidi didn’t need to give up much to acquire Estrada. The former Yankees prospect was designated for assignment by New York in April, so all it took to bring Estrada into the Giants’ organization was a minor trade involving “cash considerations.”

Estrada has earned respect around the organization for being a team-oriented player who hasn’t been fazed by shuttling back and forth from Triple-a to the majors for much of the summer. While the grind of not knowing when a player’s next at-bat will come can take a toll on young players, Estrada said he brings the same approach to the ballpark each day whether he’s lining up at shortstop at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento or at second base at Coors Field.

“I just like to compete,” Estrada said Monday. “I like to take good swings to make good contact and just wish the ball goes out.”

In the last week, three of his swings have produced home runs and they’ve all come in important Giants victories. The youngest position player on the Giants roster believes he can continue improving and if that’s the case, it’s easy to envision Estrada receiving 300-to-400 at-bats next season, particularly because the club may have a new hole to fill.

With Donovan Solano set to become a free agent at the end of the year, the Giants likely won’t need to look far for a capable replacement. As Solano nears a return from the COVID-19 injured list later this week, Estrada has already demonstrated how valuable he can be while performing many of the same duties.