It’s hard to imagine a sports franchise challenging the Cleveland Browns’ recent futility, and an organization that’s taken home three World Series titles in the past seven seasons isn’t loaded with easy comparisons.
But there is one sinking similarity linking the San Francisco Giants to the Cleveland Browns, and it’s that for all the struggles the Browns have had in finding a quarterback over the last decade, the Giants have had just as difficult a time honing in on a full-time left fielder.
It’s been a decade since Barry Bonds last donned the No. 25 jersey for San Francisco, and for the last 10 years, the Giants have trotted out a different left fielder each Opening Day.
In 2017 alone, the Giants have used 12 different players at the position, and on Tuesday evening, rookie Austin Slater became the 10th Giants player to start in left field for the team this season.
Though the Giants have found ways to overcome the revolving door residing in front of the Chevron sign on the outfield wall at AT&T Park, players are now cycling through that door at an all-time high.
The Giants’ eighth-round draft pick in 2014, Slater is hoping to avoid becoming the latest to join a growing list of left fielders who haven’t exactly run away with their opportunities this season.
“Slater has been one of the hottest hitters in Triple-A baseball for the last five months of the season going back even to last year,” Giants’ general manager Bobby Evans said on Murph and Mac on Wednesday. “He’s a guy that has a great trajectory, he’s earned his way up here by his own play. Can play all three outfield positions, but we’ve got to give these guys a consistent look.”
After a 1-for-4 effort that yielded an infield hit and a game-ending groundout, on the hardest hit ball of the night no less, Slater is on the bench Wednesday as the Giants turn to 25-year-old rookie and former Royals’ prospect Orlando Calixte.
After starting his tenure with the Giants on a high note with a 2-for-5 performance, Calixte is now 4-for-21 and struggling as much at the plate as every other player the team has directed to left field this season.
Earlier this year, Evans admitted the Giants miscalculated their options in left field heading into the season, and on Wednesday, he acknowledged bad luck played a part in their struggles as well.
The Giants entered spring training hoping Jarrett Parker and Mac Williamson would compete for the starting left fielder job, but Williamson suffered a quad injury in late March that kept him out for a month, making Parker, who hit .236 in 63 games last season, the de facto starter.
Parker started off the season just 3-for-21, and on April 15, his season took a harsh turn. Parker suffered a broken clavicle after tracking down a fly ball and crashing into the wall in dramatic fashion, which has kept him off the field ever since.
A miscalculation on the part of Giants management coupled with brushes of bad luck have left the team in a dire state, as San Francisco’s left fielders have combined to hit just .204 this season, while compiling a slugging percentage of .281 that’s well over 100 points lower than the worst on-base percentage of Bonds’ career.
A decade later, no one in the Giants’ organization is looking for the next Barry Bonds, but they are looking for some semblance of consistency. On Wednesday, Evans said Parker is “getting closer” to starting a rehab assignment, but for now, manager Bruce Bochy’s hands are tied.
“We went into camp really with a competition between Parker and Williamson and see which one would emerge as the everyday guy in hopes that some of the veteran options coming in as non-rosters could complement them,” Evans said. “I don’t know, Parker, 35 plate appearances into the season is out for two months. That’s a big hit to us. Obviously we lost (Justin) Ruggiano, (Michael) Morse and Williamson before we ever left Scottsdale. As you look at Parker, hopefully he’ll come back after some rehab time. He’s getting closer to playing in games.”
Part of the Giants’ issue this season has been finding consistent opportunities for their left field hopefuls. A few players, Eduardo Nunez and Brandon Belt, are everyday players at different positions, while others, like Gorkys Hernandez and Chris Marrero, were never expected to fill a starting role.
So once again, the Giants are caught in a bind. Ten years after beginning the post-Bonds era, San Francisco has resorted to searching for a short-term answer, in hopes that one day, a long-term solution emerges.
Do they force Slater into the lineup even if he’s not ready? Or do Evans and Bochy play more capable veterans, even if they aren’t necessarily going to ignite a second-half turnaround?
The Giants haven’t settled on their answer yet, but on Wednesday, Slater is sitting for the third time in four games. That’s not exactly a consistent opportunity.
In the past, the revolving door yielded serviceable, even above average, pieces like Pat Burrell, Dave Roberts and Aubrey Huff. In the past, a Browns’ comparison would have been ludicrous. Not this season.
“It makes it harder on Slater, it has made it harder on other young guys as they’ve come up,” Evans said. “It made it harder on Arroyo to be relied upon as much as he was in the middle of the lineup and that’s a reflection of our overall struggle at every spot in the lineup, not just the young Arroyo or young Slater or anybody else. We’ve got to give these guys a look but we’ve also got to find a way to get the production we need day in and day out.”
Pregame notes
- Ty Blach will start for the Giants five days after tossing a 112-pitch shutout in the Giants’ 10-0 win over the Phillies to start their road trip. Blach allowed seven hits and struck out four while lowering his earned run average to 3.24 for the season.
- Eduardo Nunez is back in the lineup and hitting second a day after recording a three-hit game and extending his on-base streak to 21 games.
- The Giants will keep the top seven hitters in their order intact for the third straight game.
- Travis Shaw missed the past two games for the Brewers on paternity leave, but was activated ahead of Wednesday’s game and will play third base.
- Evans offered an update on Madison Bumgarner, who was transferred to the 60-day disabled list to make room for reliever Sam Dyson, who was acquired in a trade with the Rangers on Tuesday. “He’s (Bumgarner) throwing up to 100 feet right now and that’s part of the throwing progression. You just want to make sure that before he gets back on the mound everything is working and everything is feeling as good as possible. We still look at this as in and around the All-Star break we’ll have a pretty good idea whether he comes back right after or before the end of the month. Madison is going to push to try to come back as fast and as early as possible but we have to look out for him not only this season but beyond. But yeah, he’s making great progress and he’s already served 45 or 46 days on that 60-day DL so it was an easy decision because he gets credit for all the time he’s already served.”
