Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The Giants like what they have seen from Joe McCarthy, and not just this year but before he was in the organization.
Now that he is in the organization, they like what they have seen enough to know they want to see more.
McCarthy, a 26-year-old outfielder acquired at last year’s deadline from the Rays for minor league lefty Jacob Lopez, is still in major league camp, surviving Friday’s 17-man cutdown while a couple possible outfield prospects, Chris Shaw and Jamie Westbrook, were demoted.
As others went down, McCarthy was moved up to the cleanup spot in the game against the Brewers and responded by working a walk and then launching his first home run of the spring. If the lefty hitter can add more pop to above-average plate discipline the organization values, McCarthy could be a wild card for an Opening Day roster spot.
“It’s been a while since I’ve felt this good. I wake up and every day’s a good day regardless of the result,” McCarthy said after his best day of camp, a nice bit of a statement after surviving the cut-down. “Helping the club, feeling good while you’re doing it, definitely a great day.”
McCarthy is trying to separate himself in a jumbled outfield picture that the first round of cuts did not clear up. Gone are Shaw and Westbrook. Still around are non-roster invites Billy Hamilton, Joey Rickard, Drew Robinson and Darin Ruf. Still around are the intriguing: Jaylin Davis, Steven Duggar and Austin Slater. Still around are the safe: Mike Yastrzemski, Alex Dickerson and Hunter Pence.
There are a couple jobs in the air, and while McCarthy is not a front-runner, he first showed the Giants enough to warrant trading for him, and now he’s shown enough to warrant more at-bats.
“We’re still learning him and think we need to see a little bit more,” Gabe Kapler said.
What they are seeing is a healthy player for the first time since 2018. McCarthy, who had 2015 back surgery, again hurt his back in last year’s spring training and then had to “play catch-up throughout the year. Felt like I never really gained traction,” he said.
“Went through a full year last year just fighting my own body. Didn’t really feel like myself.”
The Giants, who have liked McCarthy’s makeup and pitch selection for years, swooped in and bought low. He did not impress at Triple-A Sacramento in his limited time last year, but spent much of his offseason around the Arizona facilities, giving a long ramp for him to be ready and healthy for the start of spring training. That was the goal, and these are the early returns: 4-for-11 with three walks (.500 on-base percentage), a homer and a steal.
There are more projects around camp than a grade-school science fair, so many tinkering with swings and putting a trio of hitting coaches to work. McCarthy isn’t really among them, saying there’s nothing radically different with his approach or swing, though it may slightly evolve “every year, every week, every at-bat.”
He’s constantly tweaking, but his confidence is coming from his health, which he said is allowing him to “be the best version of myself.”
What that means is being more of a grinder than slugger.
“Trying to simplify at-bats, controlling the zone and understanding what kind of player I am. That’s when I feel like I’m at best, when I’m controlling the strike zone, being a tough out for pitchers, trying to find barrels,” said the former University of Virginia star.
What that means is he fits right into the Farhan Zaidi mold.
“I’ve never been a guy who’s going to knock the fences over,” he said, “but I’ve always been a tough out.”
At the plate and from camp.