Fresh arm seeking a foothold on staff
The Giants promoted a first-round pick to fill Madison Bumgarner’s roster spot and buoy a team racked by injury.
No, it’s not 21-year-old Christian Arroyo, the impossibly boyish-looking infielder who made his much-anticipated debut with the club Monday.
That man is 26-year-old Chris Stratton, who quietly re-entered the big leagues Friday. The No. 1 pick from 2012, once thought to be a future fixture in the rotation, made his first appearance of the season as a long reliever Saturday.
Fate would have it that the 2012 first-round pick got back to the majors because the 2007 first-rounder got hurt.
After toiling in the minors for parts of six seasons, Stratton is ready for any role.
“I’m here to do whatever this team wants me to do to help win,” he said, “If that’s coming out of the ’pen, I’ll be right there.
“If it’s a start, I’ll do that as well.”
Stratton entered in the fifth inning in relief of Matt Moore, who got shelled by the Rockies. Stratton threw three scoreless innings at Coors Field, a hitter’s park.
“It seemed like when he took the mound in Colorado, he really attacked hitters and was confident with his stuff, which is great to see,” fellow reliever George Kontos said in the clubhouse Tuesday.
It was reminiscent of Stratton’s major-league debut May 30, when he threw a scoreless inning for the Giants and struck out two in a 5-3 loss to Atlanta.
Stratton appeared in seven games with the Giants last year, going 1-0 with a 3.60 ERA. That came in the midst of a minor-league season with Triple-A Sacramento, where he went 12-6 with a 3.87 ERA; along with six starts in the Arizona Fall League, Stratton threw 1612⁄3 innings in 2016.
It was not enough, however, to prevent him from being optioned to Sacramento this spring.
Giants reliever Derek Law, who was first teammates with with Stratton in low-A ball in Augusta, Ga., in 2012, said his friend is starting to enjoy coming out of the bullpen.
“He said, ‘I’m kinda starting to like this,’ ” Law said. “I said, ‘I hope so. That’s where you’re at right now.’ ”
For now, Stratton is slotted as a long reliever, tasked with stabilizing the team when the starter falters.
There’s a slight possibility his role could change, especially if Matt Cain, who injured his hamstring injury Monday, is unable to make his start against San Diego on Saturday.
Manager Bruce Bochy stopped short of ruling out the possibility of Stratton starting in Cain’s place.
“The long guy usually does take that role,” Bochy said Tuesday. “It really depends on the next few days.
“... We expect Matt to make that start,” Bochy said.
Said Stratton: “Hopefully, I’ll show them enough that they will want to keep me around somehow.”