Duggar says camp games in Sacramento are tough
Steven Duggar, who was optioned to the alternate camp Thursday as teams reduced active rosters from 30 to 28, answered a question on the minds of Giants fans who wondered if top prospects such as Joey Bart and Heliot Ramos would benefit from truly competitive reps in Sacramento.
“Oh yeah. Absolutely,” Duggar said Tuesday night. “I think from the top, the guys that (management have) brought in, the culture here is about competition. You look across the outfield and infield, and we’ve got a lot of guys who can play baseball at a high level and have done it for a long time.
“It brings the best out of everybody.”
The question is more than academic. President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi consistently said that Bart needed more atbats and innings in the minors, which is why the 2018 No. 1 draft pick did not make the bigleague club though many fans wanted to see him.
Servicetime manipulation might have been afoot, too, but the Giants could have promoted Bart anytime after July 28 without granting him a full year of majorleague time.
Catcher Patrick Bailey, the top draft choice this year, hit what Kapler was told was a long lefthanded home run to rightcenter in Sacramento on Tuesday. The pitcher was Trevor Cahill, who was hampered by a fingernail issue.
In a normal August, Bailey would be playing rookielevel ball in Oregon or, at best, for the low Class A team in Georgia, rather than facing a pitcher with 11 years in the bigs.
Kapler admitted he had a “difficult conversation” with Duggar about his demotion Thursday because the 26yearold thought he had made the necessary strides at the plate although he was 2for15 overall.
The Giants also optioned lefthander Andrew Suarez, who was activated specifically for the Rockies series because of their bounty of lefthanded hitters. He did not get into a game.
Suarez and Duggar do not have to return to Sacramento yet. They were added to the travel taxi squad, which was expanded from three players to five under the same new rule that will keep rosters at 28 through the postseason.
Briefly: Pablo Sandoval had two righthanded hits, including a single that preceded Chadwick Tromp’s single and Mauricio Dubón’s homer . ... Donovan Solano had three hits and extended his hit streak to 11 games, the secondlongest active run in the majors (the Reds’ Nick Castellanos, 12) . ... Mike Yastrzemski got his first start off after beginning August 2for17 . ... Jeff Samardzija, Johnny Cueto and Kevin Gausman will start against the Dodgers.