Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
The developments were encouraging for the Giants on Friday, Evan Longoria taking ground balls, a process that went “better than expected,” Gabe Kapler said, while Brandon Belt is feeling good enough to DH in Saturday’s scrimmage (although he will not be running the bases).
The Giants manager said each still has a shot to be ready for Thursday’s season opener. Yet, neither is guaranteed, Longoria having suffered a moderate right oblique strain, and Belt battling right heel soreness (as well as potentially battling fellow lefty Clayton Kershaw in Los Angeles).
If Belt is not ready — or if the Giants want a righty at first anyway — Darin Ruf and Wilmer Flores are the easy plug-ins. Outfielder Joe McCarthy has taken some reps at first and is positioning himself as another lefty bat if he can master the position.
The third-base picture is a little more cloudy. While taking grounders, Longoria felt “a little soreness as he bent over to his right,” Kapler said, and oblique strains can be tricky (just ask Alex Dickerson). There is a solid chance the Giants and Longoria play it cautiously and give the 34-year-old more time to heal, opening up at-bats for someone else.
The first name Kapler listed among the replacements is Pablo Sandoval, who has plenty of third-base experience and will not hurt the team there, but also will not get to as many balls as Longoria would. Neither would the second player Kapler named, Flores, whose speed makes first base his best position.
Kapler called both “nice options,” and Sandoval’s preference to bat lefty and Flores being a righty does work out. Beyond that?
“[Mauricio] Dubon can stand over there, [Donovan] Solano can stand over there,” Kapler said over Zoom, referring respectively to a player they feel can play just about anywhere and a player who has some third-base experience, including a pair of games last year.
Who Kapler did not name was Zach Green, whose eye-opening power would have made him the surprise of spring training 1.0 if Ruf did not peel eyes even further. Green, 26, was a former top prospect with the Phillies who encountered injury after injury before signing last year with the Giants and blasting 25 home runs in 72 games with Triple-A Sacramento. His bat has not been as loud this time around, and it doesn’t sound as if he’ll have a chance to break into the 40-man roster just yet.