Giants’ Yastrzemski on track for Opening Day; Melvin calls out club
MESA, Ariz. — Both sides of the San Francisco Giants’ planned right field platoon have been hampered by health issues to begin spring training, but both players appear to be turning a corner and on track for the regular season, with Mike Yastrzemski making his Cactus League debut Wednesday.
Yastrzemski, 33, pointed to the outcome of the two times he put the ball in play as evidence of why he isn’t concerned by his delayed start.
In a 7-4 exhibition loss to the A’s, he came to the plate three times as the designated hitter, drawing a walk and twice flying out to left field.
“I got beat a little bit, but the fact that I’m executing what I’m trying to do on day one is really promising for me,” Yastrzemski said. “It’s one of those things that as you get older and you go through spring training multiple times … you start to understand what your process is versus everyone else’s. When you come out here and you’re working on things, kind of like what I was just talking to (hitting coach Pat Burrell) about, really working on staying behind the ball.”
Like Austin Slater, Yastrzemski was delayed to start camp and has not yet been cleared to play the field.
While Slater has been slow in his recovery from offseason elbow surgery, the origin of Yastrzemski’s shoulder ailment remains a mystery.
One morning in December, he said, he woke up with a sore shoulder. When it didn’t improve after a couple weeks off over the holidays, “I said, ‘All right, we’ve gotta get into some (physical therapy) and get this thing strengthened up and ready to go,’” Yastrzemski said.
On Wednesday, Yastrzemski accelerated his throwing program, playing catch out to 200 feet. He began camp by throwing from short distances two out of every three days, and when his shoulder responded well, progressed to playing catch every day leading up to his debut this week.
“I felt like I was physically ready to try to get air under the ball, versus throwing intently from a shorter position,” Yastrzemski said. “Wanted to see how I respond from that, so we’ll see how it feels tomorrow, but it feels good right now.”
While the Giants would love to have their expected Opening Day right fielder ready when they break camp, there is one early season series that Yastrzemski surely will not want to miss. The Giants
travel to Boston for three games at Fenway Park, his Hall-of-Fame grandfather’s home ballpark, at the end of April.
“I think I started getting (ticket requests) like two years ago,” Yastrzemski chuckled. “I’m looking forward to it. It’ll be fun.”
Homer happy
The ball was jumping off the bats under the Wednesday afternoon sun, with the teams combining for five home runs.
Two came from the first two A’s batters to step to the plate against Giants starter Spencer Howard, who’s no stranger to the long ball. In camp as a non-roster invitee, Howard has appeared in 38 games for the Phillies and Rangers but is 3-11 with a 7.20 ERA and has allowed 26 homers in 115 career innings.
The 27-year-old righthander is trying to make his case as a depth option for the rotation — which is looking increasingly important — but given the start in place of Mason Black, who was moved up to cover for the injured Tristan Beck, Howard was bitten by the same issues that have led him to his fourth organization in two years.