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It’s not immediately clear whether Buster Posey will play this season. The 33-year-old has not participated in either of the Giants’ last two practices, with manager Gabe Kapler attributing those absences, out of respect for Posey’s privacy, to a personal matter. On KNBR on Thursday, Farhan Zaidi stated the obvious, that Posey is still mulling over whether to play.
“He’s continuing to evaluate things on an everyday basis and frankly there’s a few guys in that boat, guys with young families,” Zaidi said. “I don’t want to get into other personal things but … we’ll certainly support whatever he decides.”
Posey said on July 4th that he would “… watch what’s going on and keep communicating with my wife and pay attention to what’s going on around me here at the ballpark and what’s going on in the country,” when asked if he’d play in the abbreviated season.
The other guys
So, who’s behind Posey? Kapler made a point, at the end of a conference call on Thursday, to point out two names: Tyler Heineman and Rob Brantly.
“I just wanted to make sure that those were the two names that we saw as battling for the backup catcher role,” Kapler said. I.e. the starting catcher role, should Posey not play, which, at this juncture, seems at the very least in the realm of possibility.
Kapler also highlighted Heineman, who went 1-for-2 (a single, a walk and a groundout), for his aggressive baserunning and “dirt ball reads.” He was caught stealing once by Brantly (who popped out twice).
There are prospect options as well in the highly-touted No. 1 organizational prospect Joey Bart, Chadwick Tromp and the recently drafted Patrick Bailey.
Jarlin Garcia, Billy Hamilton head to injured list
On Wednesday, Kapler declined to get into Garcia and Hamilton, who had not been present at training camp 2.0. But Garcia showed up on the injured list, placed there on Wednesday, and on Thursday, he confirmed both players were on the list. That leaves the Giants without their speediest baserunner and at the very least a rotational outfield option in Hamilton for the first half of this resumed camp. Both injuries were undisclosed.
Yolmer Sanchez did not participate in practice on Thursday due to back tightness which Kapler said came up on Wednesday. Kapler said it was a “precautionary measure” and that the team isn’t concerned long term.
Happy Birthday, go shag some fly balls
It was Giants quality assurance coach Nick Ortiz’s birthday on Thursday, which the team honored by playing “El Día De Tu Suerte” by N’klabe before practice, which MLB.com’s Maria Guardado said features a cameo from Ortiz.
The Giants are celebrating quality assurance coach Nick Ortiz's birthday by playing "El Día De Tu Suerte" on the scoreboard at Oracle Park.
Ortiz seems to have made a cameo in the music video:https://t.co/1TiI2W778W
— Maria I. Guardado (@mi_guardado) July 9, 2020
Ortiz also made a cameo as a fielder on Thursday, filling in at multiple positions. There was some good and some bad. The bad first: he made an error on a Pablo Sandoval chopper that was a prime double play opportunity when stationed at second, but he did make a catch in right field and translated for Camilo Duval before his pitching appearance.