Yastrzemski nearing return from injury
The Giants have gone 2-3 since Mike Yastrzemski last took the field, but it might not be much longer before he’s available to play.
The outfielder came out of a 6- 4 win over the Seattle Mariners on Thursday with a right calf strain and manager Gabe Kapler said it’s possible Yastrzemski will be available off the bench as soon as Wednesday against the Colorado Rockies.
“He played catch, looked great playing catch, normal swings on the cage, we’re going to continue to progress him and tomorrow he’ll do some agilities,” Kapler said postgame Tuesday. “Tomorrow he’ll do some outfield work. But there’s a possibility he’ll be ready to do something off the bench for us tomorrow.”
Yastrzemski has been one of the Giants’ most important players this season and had appeared in all 49 games before sitting out the last five due to his calf strain.
Under normal circumstances, the Giants would have placed Yastrzemski
on the 10- day injured list and allowed him the maximum time to heal. With a potential trip to the playoffs on the line and a sense of optimism Yastrzemski could heal faster than it typically takes a player to recover from a calf injury, the Giants elected to move forward with 27 healthy players this week with the hope Yastrzemski would be able to contribute in the final days of the season.
“Obviously we want him to be able to play defense, run the bases and be fully capable of doing all of the things he did before the injury, but we’re going to have to take smaller steps than that,” Kapler said. “Even just having him available to pinch-hit tomorrow would be a huge step in the right direction and give us confidence a few days later he might be able to start a baseball game for us.”
The Giants will face four right-handed starters over their next four games and could finish the season against six consecutive righties once the San Diego Padres finalize their rotation for a critical weekend series at Oracle Park. Having another left-handed bat would be a bonus for the Giants, but the club would be eager to welcome Yastrzemski back regardless of whether he provided a matchup advantage.
The second-year outfielder owns a .285 batting average and a .944 OPS this season and leads the team in Wins Above Replacement ( WAR) with 2.3, which is tied with Rockies shortstop Trevor Story and Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña, Jr. for the sixth-best mark in the National League.
With a 27-27 record, the Giants can move into the second wild card spot with a win over the Rockies as two other .500 teams, the 28-28 Cincinnati Reds and 27-27 Milwaukee Brewers, play a head-to-head matchup. Kapler said with six games left in the season, the coaching staff is going to be comfortable pushing players to the limit and that includes Yastrzemski.