Surprise standouts and new concerns: What we learned during the Giants’ summer workouts
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SAN FRANCISCO — There’s no question the San Francisco Giants will play a different style of baseball under first-year manager Gabe Kapler than they did under future Hall of Fame manager Bruce Bochy.
Kapler’s reluctance to name a starting rotation, commitment to platoons at the majority of positions on the diamond and desire to give inexperienced players opportunities to shine are a few of the changes that should immediately appear obvious.
With Kapler at the helm and president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi growing increasingly comfortable in his role, Giants fans can expect a season that’s interesting, unusual and even thought-provoking.
Whether the season will be enjoyable or fun for fans watching from home remains to be seen.
After two-plus weeks of summer workouts at Oracle Park, the Giants are preparing to travel across the Bay Bridge Sunday to meet the Oakland A’s for the first of two exhibition games. A day off from formal practices Sunday marks the unofficial end to the team’s summer workout program, which left us with as many questions as answers about how the Giants will approach the season.
We examined who stood out, what stood out and what remains a concern for the Giants as they enter the 2020 season.
Five players who shined
Joey Bart: It’s possible no member of the Giants player pool enjoyed as strong of a camp as Bart, the organization’s top prospect who is only 25 months removed from being selected with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2018 MLB Draft.
After Buster Posey announced his intention to sit out the season, all eyes turned to Bart and whether the Giants would reconsider their commitment to keeping the Georgia Tech product off the Opening Day roster. Neither Kapler nor Zaidi budged on their assertion that Bart needs more time to develop, but the 23-year-old forced Giants leadership to keep discussing his progress as he routinely produced highlight-reel moments during intrasquad games.
Bart hit for average, hit for power, showed poise behind the plate and demonstrated an elite arm that will make him tough to run on when he finally does arrive at the major league level. There’s little question Bart is the catcher best equipped to help the Giants win now, but in a condensed season, the organization is likely looking to gain an extra year of control with Bart by keeping him off the Opening Day roster.
The Giants can’t publicly acknowledge that Bart’s service time is an issue in play here, but it’s impossible to talk about the team’s catching situation without noting a primary reason why the organization would benefit from keeping him off the roster for at least the first week of the season.
Brandon Crawford: When Giants veterans announced their intention to embrace Kapler and a new coaching staff that was light on major league experience, one of the reasons they cited was their struggles in recent seasons.
Shortstop Brandon Crawford was among the players who was eager to see how new sets of eyes could help him rebound from a rough 2019 season and Crawford appears to be on track for a bounce back summer. Of all the established major league players in camp, he brought the most consistent swing to intrasquad scrimmages while also demonstrating impressive plate discipline.
The Giants will still look to limit his at-bats against left-handed pitchers more than they did under Bochy, but Crawford is only two years removed from earning an All-Star nod and he looks much more like the 2018 version of himself than the player who hit .228 with a .654 OPS last year.
Carlos Navas: Never heard of Navas before? That might not be a surprise considering the right-hander has only appeared in 19 career games above Double-A in a 10-year minor league career.
It’s hard to know how seriously the Giants are considering Navas for an Opening Day bullpen spot, but Kapler recently mentioned how dependable and professional the Venezuela native has been and noted “you need guys like that in your bullpen.”
The Giants view Navas as a potential bulk innings candidate and stretched him out to as many as three innings in intrasquad games. If he performs well in an exhibition game against the A’s, it wouldn’t be a shock to see him taking down innings against the Dodgers in Los Angeles this weekend.
Chadwick Tromp: Like Bart, Tromp entered summer workouts as someone who was ticketed for the team’s alternate camp in Sacramento.
After launching three home runs –including one each off Jeff Samardzija and Johnny Cueto– and belting a triple during intrasquad games, Tromp has entered the competition for an Opening Day roster spot and may have supplanted Rob Brantly in his quest to earn a job.
The Giants initially expected Brantly and minor league free-agent Tyler Heineman to split starts this year, but Tromp has more pop in his bat than either player and may have removed some clarity from the depth chart with his recent performances.
Logan Webb: Zaidi and Kapler had both mentioned the idea Webb would be on an innings limit in 2020 during spring training, but the stoppage in play spurred by the coronavirus pandemic means the young right-hander no longer has to worry about exceeding a certain threshold.
Webb struggled at times during a six-week stint in the majors late last year, but has a high ceiling as a pitching prospect and entered camp on a mission to earn a roster spot. His sweeping slider is completely transformed from the breaking ball he used a year ago and his willingness to throw a two-seamer and cutter that play off of his four-seam fastball give him a bigger arsenal.
Expect Webb to make the Opening Day roster and expect him to start games at some point this season.
Five concerns heading into the season
Is Evan Longoria healthy enough to play? With Posey out, no veteran player means more to the Giants lineup than third baseman Evan Longoria who might be the only member of the club expected to start regularly against both right and left-handed pitchers.
Longoria’s consistency and power potential had the Giants projecting him as one of their most important middle-of-the-order bats, but a moderate right oblique strain leaves his status heading toward Opening Day in jeopardy.
Longoria seems to bounce back quickly from injuries, but an oblique strain can be hard to overcome and it’s the type of injury that can hamper a player even when they do return. If Longoria isn’t healthy enough to go at the outset of the year, it’s hard to see how the Giants find a suitable replacement.
What should the club do with Brandon Belt? Belt is expected to be the team’s primary starter at first base against right-handed pitchers, but like Longoria, he’s dealing with an injury (right heel issue) that could keep him out for a few days at the beginning of the season.
The Giants likely wouldn’t start Belt against Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw and with three lefties set to pitch for Los Angeles in the season-opening four-game series, it might make sense to have Belt start the season on the injured list to ensure he’s not rushing back. The Giants would miss Belt’s glove and his ability to come off the bench to face righties, but it seems he would be at or close to 100% by the time a stint on the injured list would be up.
What does this Giants rotation look like? The vast majority of teams have started to provide indications of what their rotations will look like for the first week of the season, but outside of naming Johnny Cueto their Opening Day starter, the Giants haven’t committed to anything.
The team expects Kevin Gausman to start Monday’s exhibition against the A’s in Oakland, so that would make him the likely candidate to start Saturday in game three of the regular season against the Dodgers. The Giants can slot Jeff Samardzija in behind Cueto and send Drew Smyly out for the series finale in Los Angeles, but they can also maintain some flexibility and try to deploy Smyly or Gausman out of the bullpen if they jump out to an early lead in either of the first two games of the series.
It’s anyone’s guess as to who takes the fifth spot in the rotation, but with an off day next Monday, the Giants won’t actually need a fifth starter until Saturday, August 1.
How do the Giants divide up playing time in the center field? One of the primary concerns the Giants faced during spring training was determining who would replace Kevin Pillar in center field.
With fewer than five days remaining until Opening Day, there’s no clarity whatsoever in the outfield as Kapler continues to list four-to-five players all viewed as capable center fielders.
The Giants are eager to see Mauricio Dubón play center field and will likely have the right-handed hitter start there on Opening Day against Kershaw, but Mike Yastrzemski, Jaylin Davis, Austin Slater and Steven Duggar have all spent considerable time in center during intrasquad games.
Remember Billy Hamilton? He showed up to camp on Thursday and only has a week to prepare for the regular season, so it seems unlikely he’ll make the initial Opening Day roster. Hamilton’s speed on the bases and range in center make him a valuable part-time player, so at some point this season the Giants will likely attempt to turn him loose too.
It could take weeks to sort out the center field depth chart, but there’s some good news for everyone who likes uncertainty. The Giants have no clear plan in right field, either.
How will they solve a 40-man roster logjam?
What do Pablo Sandoval, Yolmer Sánchez, Billy Hamilton, Darin Ruf, Carlos Navas, Tyler Heineman, Rob Brantly, Chadwick Tromp, Trevor Oaks, Trevor Cahill, Caleb Baragar, Rico Garcia, Andrew Triggs and Sam Wolff all have in common?
All 14 minor league free-agents were non-roster invitees to Giants summer camp who all appear to have a chance to crack the team’s Opening Day roster. If the Giants want to bring any of those players to Los Angeles, they’ll have to first add them to their 40-man roster.
It’s unrealistic to expect Zaidi to keep all 14 as some are unlikely to be ready for Opening Day (e.g. Cahill, Hamilton) while others are battling with each other for the same roles (right-handed relievers such as Triggs, Navas, Garcia). It does seem likely the Giants keep at least four and potentially up to seven players from this group, so sorting out all of the 40-man roster issues will be a challenge.
It’s a tough week to be Chris Shaw, Kean Wong, Jandel Gustave and Melvin Adon, four players who are on the 40-man roster but didn’t get the invite to summer camp at Oracle Park. They could be the first four players cut to create room for players such as Sandoval, Sánchez and Heineman.
Creating additional space will require constant discussions and debates by members of the front office and coaching staff over the next few days.