Platoon underlines Panik’s tough 2018
Here is a pretty good rule of thumb on fame: You don’t want to hear your name end a sentence that begins, “Whatever happened to … ?”
As in, whatever happened to Joe Panik, the Giants’ everyday second baseman, the Opening Day leadoff hitter who homered off Clayton Kershaw and Kenley Jansen in the first two games of the season at Dodger Stadium for consecutive 1-0 wins?
At the same venue this week, Panik rode the bench aside from one strikeout as a pinchhitter. In fairness, he would have had a second at-bat had Austin Slater not been thrown out at home to end the ninth inning Tuesday night.
Through the course of a season, playing time waxes and wanes, but usually for backups or fringe starters. Panik’s disappearance during the Dodgers series reflected a rarity for the Giants, the marginalization of a 27-year-old mainstay. Or, as manager Bruce Bochy calls them, “our guys.”
In a season that devolved through a hitting decline and injuries to his thumb and groin that cost him 48 games, Panik has become a platoon player, sharing second base with righthanded-hitting Chase d’Arnaud and switch-hitter Alen Hanson.
It was Panik’s bad fortune that the Dodgers threw three left-handed starters at the Giants, leaving him sidelined for a critical series at a ballpark where he twice delivered in March.
When Panik returned from his groin injury July 30, Bochy was straight with him and about his role.
Panik, true to his nature, accepted Bochy’s decision with grace and understanding.
“Listen,” Panik said before Wednesday’s game, “this time of year, for all 25 guys here, it’s about winning ballgames. This is when you check your ego at the door. Whenever my name is called, it’s my job, whether I’m starting or I’m double-switching, pinch-hitting, whatever, to do whatever I can to help the team.
“Every game matters now, every run, every out. Everything is under the microscope. When we had that talk, I told (Bochy), ‘I know where we’re at in the season. When my name’s called, I’ll be ready.’ ”
Panik’s perspective comes from watching how differently Bochy manages later in contending seasons, particularly 2014, when Panik earned a World Series ring as a rookie.
“Boch has been through this many times now, so he knows what it takes to push the right buttons at the right time to win games,” said Panik, who confessed he peeks at the opponents’ probable starters more these days, given that he probably will start only against right-handers.
A weekend series in Cincinnati that begins Friday night brings Panik good news. The Giants will face three righties in Anthony DeSclafani, Matt Harvey and Luis Castillo, a former Giants farmhand.
The Giants then play four against the Mets in New York, not far from Panik’s hometown.
“I can’t sit a New Yorker in New York,” Bochy said, mostly tongue in cheek. “We’re going to see plenty of right-handers, so he’s going to get plenty of at-bats.”
Panik has had just 29 since his return, with six hits. He fell into his first-ever platoon because of a puzzling decline in hitting lefties. Over his first four big-league seasons, he actually fared better against lefties (.287) than righties (.281).
In 80 at-bats against lefthanders this season, Panik has a slash line of .162/.228/.238 (batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage) with two of his four homers, against Kershaw and the Mariners’ Marco Gonzales, five days apart early in the season.
As Panik tries to rebound, he must work on dual tracks with hitting coaches Alonzo Powell and Rick Schu. One is making the mechanical and approach adjustments needed to hit lefties again. The other is learning how to prepare to pinch-hit, a new world for him.
Panik said he learned a lot talking to and watching former Giants infielder Conor Gillaspie, particularly the work he would do in-game to prepare for that one at-bat. Panik, who thrived as an everyday player as a patient hitter, has to become more aggressive as a pinch-hitter who might get just one drivable pitch.
Bochy has said Panik could reclaim his everyday job if he gets hot, which would help his cause before executive vice president Brian Sabean and general manager Bobby Evans decide his future.
With his salary expected to rise toward $5 million in arbitration this winter, Panik again faces an uncertain winter. The Giants have the flexibility to trade him if they think they could upgrade the offense and power at his position while saving money. If the Giants can’t trade Panik because of his down year, and still decide they would be better off with a different second baseman in 2019, they could non-tender him and make him a free agent — the most dire and least likely option.
Or, they could act as they typically do with their World Series standbys and give Panik a chance to reclaim his spot as one of “our guys.”
“I do understand the business side of it,” Panik said. At the same time, “I haven’t even thought that far, and you really can’t, honestly. If you’re thinking that far ahead, you’re not going to be able to take care of business today.”
His business over the final 40 games will take place in the batting cages, as he tries to become “Joe Panik” again.
“I’m out there every day working, grinding,” he said. “I’m going to do my damnedest to play the way I know how to.”