SF has pieces for strong ’pen
Giants’ relief arms the early standout from first week of training; CF a concern
With only five spring training games in the books, it’s too early to draw bigpicture conclusions about how the San Francisco Giants’ Cactus League performances may foreshadow what’s to come in the regular season.
With that being said, there’s been a lot of news in Giants camp so far and some encouraging signs as well as concerning signs that should be on every fan’s radar.
As the Giants prepare to host the Royals on Saturday at Scottsdale Stadium, here’s a look at what’s taken place during the first week of Cactus League action.
Early concerns
OeNTeR lIeLa » The Giants have a lot of time to figure out who will make the Opening Day roster and which players can comfortably handle center field, but aside from Mauricio Dubón, it seems no one else has the potential to be an above-average defender at the position.
Steven Duggar made an impressive tumbling catch in Thursday’s game to rob a base hit, but he hasn’t produced at the plate yet and the Giants need him to take a major step forward with his bat to keep him on the roster. LaMonte Wade Jr. looks serviceable in center field and laid out to take away a single in Friday’s game against the Padres, but the ball Wade caught hung up in the air so long that it was mildly sur
prising he needed to dive to snag it.
The Giants believe Mike Yastrzemski has the athleticism to play the position on a regular basis, but the coaching staff needs to see Yastrzemski complete more catches and finish his routes to balls better. Jaylin Davis (knee) and Austin Slater (hamstring) have been slowed by injuries early in camp, so the Giants haven’t had a chance to evaluate them.
REYES MORONTA AND BRANDON BELT >> It’s been nearly two full weeks since position players reported to camp and Belt has yet to partake in a full workout. The Giants first baseman is recovering from offseason heel surgery and was already going to be brought along slowly this spring, but he also battled an illness that left him under the weather and kept him out of baseball activity for about 10 days.
Giants manager Gabe Kapler hasn’t been overly concerned about Belt, but the Giants may need to start thinking about contingency plans for Opening Day if he isn’t participating in Cactus League games soon. Belt has always been a great spring training hitter and loves stepping into the batter’s box in Arizona, so there’s little doubt he’s eager to get on the field.
As for Moronta, Kapler has said the club is “working toward the outcome” of the reliever appearing in a Cactus League game, but has been relatively vague in offering meaningful updates about his performance in bullpens. When asked how a live batting practice for Moronta and veteran Scott Kazmir went on Friday, Kapler said Moronta’s was “fine,” before he raved about the report he received on Kazmir.
The Giants were already concerned about Moronta’s conditioning last summer as he recovered from a 2019 shoulder surgery and it appears those concerns
still exist. Until he appears in a few games, it will be difficult to judge what Moronta might be able to offer the bullpen this season. AN UNEVEN INFIELD DEPTH CHART >> The Giants have a few dozen second basemen and one major league-caliber shortstop.
That’s an exaggeration, but it does feel like there are at least six players in camp who could handle second base while only one, Brandon Crawford, looks like he’d give the Giants stability at shortstop.
The club is hopeful Dubón will re-acclimate to a position he proved he could play well when he was in the Brewers’ farm system, but after nearly a full summer focused on his work in center field (where he excelled), the adjustment back to the infield is proving to be challenging.
Over at second base, Tommy La Stella, Wilmer Flores and Donovan Solano are all splitting reps while Jason Vosler, an early camp standout, has also seen playing time. Vosler is more of a third baseman and was acquired to provide depth behind Evan Longoria, but he and minor league free agent Jason Krizan are both capable of helping the Giants at second base in a pinch.
The problem? It doesn’t appear a pinch will exist anytime soon, whereas there seems to be a bit of concern about what would happen in the event Crawford needed a few days off.
Early standouts
THE BULLPEN ARMS >> From veterans such as Jake McGee and Matt Wisler to prospects such as Dedniel Núñez and Kervin Castro, the Giants are off to an impressive start in their quest to build a formidable bullpen this spring.
Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and general manager Scott Harris devoted a lot of time to stockpiling bullpen depth this offseason and it’s paid off in the early days of spring training. Minor league free agents including Jimmie Sherfy and Yunior Marte have flashed intriguing breaking balls while members of the team’s 2020 bullpen such as Sam Selman and Wandy Peralta have already enjoyed strong debuts.
Determining which pitchers actually secure spots in the Opening Day bullpen and which spend time at the team’s alternate site in April will be a challenge, but when the TripleA season finally does start, the Giants should have enough arms to make sure even the Sacramento River Cats have a really strong stable of relievers.
THE KIDS ARE SWINGING IT
The Giants aren’t overly concerned with how top prospects such as Joey Bart and Heliot Ramos perform during spring training because they’ll have plenty of time to develop in minors this year, but the coaching staff has to be pleased with what it has seen from
members of the team’s future core.
Bart is 3-for-5 so far and has shown the opposite-field approach he did when he was able to raise his stock a bit last spring while Ramos is 3-for-7 and has consistently hit the ball hard. Both players need to cut down on their whiffs and hit the ball in the air more often, but the Giants believe they’ll soon see results.
Another prospect, infielder Will Wilson, made a good impression in his debut Friday against the Padres as he drilled a single into left field off former Giants lefty Drew Pomeranz before yanking a pitch to the outfield wall that required San Diego left fielder Jurickson Profar to make a leaping catch to take away extra bases.
Kapler commented that Wilson even made solid contact on foul balls and had a professional at-bat when he struck out in his third and final plate appearance.
DARIN RUF AND WILMER FLORES >> The sample sizes are small and there’s not much anyone can take away from five and 10-atbat stretches, but it seems Ruf and Flores each have a good chance of picking up where they left off in 2020.
It seems as if Ruf would have a hard time making the Giants’ Opening Day roster because the National League dropped the DH and roster sizes are shrinking from 28 to 26 players, but Kapler has gone out of his way to praise Ruf early in the spring and it’s clear the Giants think he’s capable of providing a lot of value.
No veteran has consistently hit the ball harder than Ruf so far, but no Giants player has hit a ball farther than Flores, who launched a two-run homer to dead center field in Peoria on Friday night.
Both Ruf and Flores were signed because they do so much damage against lefthanded pitchers, but each has proven capable of hitting righties and will undoubtedly be counted on to do so this season.