‘It just felt great to be back out there’
Trio of Giants offseason acquisitions make their debuts in first spring home game
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Sure, Michael Conforto was one of the Giants’ three marquee free-agent additions to make their team debuts Sunday. But it felt like more than just his first game with a new team to Conforto, who inked a two-year, $36 million contract this offseason.
“I definitely had some nerves,” Conforto said after he exited the game, an eventual 7-6 walk-off win against the Reds. “I had some butterflies. It kind of felt like a micro-debut again.”
Even if it was an exhibition, and an early one at that, it marked the first time
Conforto had played baseball competitively since October 2021, before he underwent shoulder surgery and the arduous rehab it entailed.
“It just felt great to be back out there,” Conforto said.
While the Giants are limiting Conforto to Dhing for the first chunk of Cactus League play, he is expected to slot in to one displayed readings inside Scottsdale Stadium, Manaea said he was clocked at 93-96 mph. Manaea averaged 91.2 mph on his fastball last season, and said at this time of year, he’s usually in the upper 80s.
The uptick in velocity can be credited to his work at Driveline, working with their weighted plyoballs at their Phoenix facility. It’s the same place Alex Cobb trained last offseason, before he also flashed an increase velocity last spring — and maintained it throughout the season as one of the majors’ more underrated starters.
“He threw the ball really well,” Haniger said. “He shouldn’t have given up a run if I make that play.”
Camilo and the clock
With the pitch clock’s increased pace, much was made of how the Giants’ slowest worker last season, closer Camilo Doval, would adapt.
Well, in his first outing of
the spring on Sunday, following Manaea with a scoreless third inning, there was, indeed, a clock violation.
Only it was committed by Cincinnati first baseman Alex Mcgarry, who already had two strikes on him and wasn’t set in the batter’s box with eight seconds left on the clock. Home plate umpire Bill Miller rung him up, the first violation involving the Giants this spring to lead to a strikeout.
“Imagine that,” Doval said with a smile through Spanish-language interpreter Erwin Higueros.
It went down as one of three punchouts for Doval, who seemed to be entirely nonplussed by the new pace, even making his usual slow-motion jog in from the bullpen.
“That was funny,” Kapler said. “… He came in from the bullpen in true Camilo fashion. He was taking his time. But it was fine. He was right on time.”
There were some concerns that less time between pitches could impact velocity, particularly for a reliever that hit 104 mph last season, but Doval doesn’t think so.
“I think it will increase more,” Doval said. “My thought of mind is, we’re going up all the time, not down.”
Middle infield candidates
While the Giants’ expected pairing up the middle of their infield — Brandon Crawford and Thairo Estrada — got the nod in their
Cactus League opener, the duo in the middle of the diamond Sunday might have been more intriguing.
At shortstop, Brett Wisely.
On the other side of the bag, Isan Díaz.
Both players joined the organization within the past year, and each figures to factor in prominently to the Giants’ plans, either in case of injury to either starter, or if the club decides it would like more than two players on its roster who can play shortstop (Crawford and Estrada, as currently constructed).
“We think they’re going to make an impact on our club,” Kapler said earlier this spring. “Maybe early in the season, perhaps a little more in the middle of the season. But I don’t think there’s any question those two guys are going to be instrumental to our success in some way.”
Wisely, 23, lined a single into left field in his first trip to the plate this spring, then came around to score on a double from Joey Bart. Díaz, 26, picked up his first hit in his third at-bat, lacing a line drive into right field, and then stole second.
Díaz would have earned a call-up last September, after hitting .275 with 23 home runs in 83 games for Sacramento, but a torn oblique ended his season. He instead spent the month rehabbing at the Giants’ minor-league complex and, now, finds himself in a competition with Wisely, who came over in a trade this offseason when Tampa Bay didn’t have space for him on its 40-man roster.
Expect both players to see time at both positions as they fight for a roster spot, or at least to be first on the pecking order at Triple-a Sacramento when a need arises, but their alignment on Sunday reflected how the organization views them.
“Wisely we see as a shortstop, then second base,” Kapler said. “Díaz we see more second base, then shortstop. … To the eye, Diaz looks like a quality major-league second baseman.”
Notable
— The Giants drew
6,688 fans for their Cactus League home opener, or just over half the 12,000seat capacity of Scottsdale Stadium.
— Kapler raved about the work right-hander Sean Hjelle put in this offseason, bulking up with 15 pounds of muscle, and Hjelle got a chance to show it off in game action for the first time Sunday. He followed Doval with two scoreless innings, including two strikeouts. “He looked great,” Kapler said. “He came out throwing hard.”
— Haniger hadn’t played a game in left field since 2018 and hasn’t played the position consistently at any point in his six major-league seasons, but that’s where he lined up in his Giants debut. It will take some getting used to, he said, but he’s confident he’ll be able to play either corner spot. “It’s been quite some time,” Haniger said. “I definitely need to get more comfortable in left. It’s just about taking more reps and getting more reads.”
— After Blake Sabol‘s big day in the Giants’ first Cactus League game, Joey Bart got off to a nice start in the competition for two catching spots on the Opening Day roster, as well. Bart ripped a double to left-center in his first at-bat that scored Wisely from first base.
— Prospects who have impressed through two games as late-inning subs: Grant Mccray (who tripled Saturday), Patrick Bailey (with an RBI single on Sunday), Shane Matheny (who homered Saturday) and Carter Williams (with a two-run homer Sunday). Ford Proctor, who went 2-for-2 after entering the game at second base, scored the winning run Sunday, on a single to left from shortstop Will Wilson.