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The Giants have plugged a lot of holes this offseason, but there’s one they hope can be fixed more naturally (and internally).
Mauricio Dubon proved he can play a fine center field last season but did not prove he can hit consistently against righties, against whom he posted a .664 OPS. Jackie Bradley Jr. is still on the market, but their position player group is fairly set, as Gabe Kapler acknowledged.
Instead of seeking a free agent, San Francisco traded for LaMonte Wade Jr. from the Twins, who has a profile they believe in but just 113 career plate appearances. Perhaps more to the point, though, they believe he’s a better corner outfielder than center fielder.
While Kapler said from various conversations he’s had, he believes Wade can play all three outfield positions, “he probably performs best at one of the corners,” the manager said of the 27-year-old over Zoom on Friday.
So, who can play center against righties? Perhaps one of their corner outfielders.
Mike Yastrzemski played 24 games in center last season and passed the eye test better than the metrics test. According to Statcast’s grades, Yastrzemski was the third worst center fielder in terms of outs above average (negative-three), and he stopped playing center after Aug. 28 last season as Dubon fully took over the position.
Kapler will never be criticized for not buying into advanced analytics, but he thinks there was more to Yastrzemski’s defensive statistics than the cold numbers.
“He came very close to making three or four more plays that I think would have changed the perception of his defensive year,” Kapler said of Yastrzemski, who was well-rated in right. “He was able to get to a lot of balls that it seemed like he might not get to, and then he wasn’t able to complete the play either because he’d go for the ball and it popped out of his glove, or he made contact with the wall and he just wasn’t able to get the play through the finish line.”
If not Yaz, perhaps it could be his at-times right-field complement. Austin Slater, who “is doing really well,” Kapler said, after dealing with an elbow injury last year that wouldn’t allow him to throw, could be in the mix. He has been a do-everything defender since debuting in 2017, though he’s played just one major league game in center. The Giants praised his athleticism, and he could find himself having another position to master.
Also mentioned were Steven Duggar and Jaylin Davis, who both bring speed to the table but who have yet to prove they can hit at the major league level. The most intriguing center-field solution, though, has yet to play above Double-A.
Heliot Ramos will not break camp with the big-league team, despite being among the prospects to be invited to major league spring training. The well-regarded and consensus top-100 outfielder spent last season in Sacramento, a season after he played 25 games in Richmond, the highest level he’s touched.
When asked which prospects the two were especially looking forward to seeing, both Kapler and Farhan Zaidi mentioned Ramos.
“He was probably among our top prospects as hurt by anyone by the lost season,” Zaidi said of the 21-year-old from Puerto Rico, “because he was on a path to potentially play in the big leagues in 2020. Just know he’s motivated and how highly we all think of him from an organizational standpoint. It’s going to be fun to see him out there.”
It’s expected he’ll start back at Richmond, with the Giants looking to be conservative with prospects who haven’t seen consistent reps since 2019.
“But then promote very aggressively from that point on,” said Zaidi, who could turn to Ramos if the other center-field options are not working.