In their 120th game of the season, the Giants are going to use their 111th lineup Tuesday night in Oracle Park. And for the second straight night, rookie Wade Meckler is hitting second.
The Giants are shoving Meckler, the rookie selected in the eighth round of last year’s draft, into the fire. Manager Gabe Kapler prefers a different analogy, though.
“If you’re going to throw anybody in the deep end, it’s going to be somebody who’s capable of swimming,” Kapler said.
In his debut, Meckler went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and a walk. The Giants opted not to pinch-hit righty Heliot Ramos for him in a key spot against a lefty, showing confidence in Meckler’s ability to hit pitchers of both handedness.
And in his second MLB game, Meckler will hit in the two-spot, a place in the batting order that has often been reserved for teams’ best hitters in the modern game.
“We believe our guys are coming to the Major Leagues, that they’re ready to be good Major Leaguers,” Kapler said. “It’s not that often that we allow a player to advance to the Major League level and then not give them opportunities to perform. Because then why bring them up?”
Meckler put up freakish numbers in the minors, hitting at least .400 A-ball, High-A and in 10 Triple-A games. As he’s hit just about everything thrown his way, the outfielder has produced even platoon splits.
Against minor league lefties this season, Meckler slashed .359/.431/.500. His .931 OPS against southpaws is nearly as high as his .990 mark with a matchup advantage.
The Giants hope Meckler can blossom into a true everyday player for them — something their roster is missing. They were true to their optimism on Monday night, when they let him hit with two outs and the bases loaded against lefty reliever Jacob Lopez.
Meckler, Kapler said, could make for a good second hitter because of his ability to put the ball in play, move runners over and get on base. The 5-foot-10, 178-pound outfielder doesn’t have the most power, but has the potential to drive pitchers into deep counts with his keen eye.
Still, hitting him second right away is a choice. When top prospect Marco Luciano debuted, he hit eighth. Casey Schmitt started out in the seven-hole. Patrick Bailey hit eighth in his first start.
There is recent precedent, though. Luis Matos was red-hot when San Francisco called him up, and he debuted in the two-hole just like Meckler.
The other factor for the Giants is that they’re scraping for any spark they can find. It’s probably better to ease rookies into the Majors lower in the order, when they’re less likely to feel pressure. But the Giants need Meckler to provide a lift.
Since June 22 — the end of their 10-game winning streak — the Giants have scored the fewest runs in baseball. They rank last in home runs and batting average in that span, too.
Shuffling up the batting order isn’t always a tool used by design. There are always injuries and individual matchups that configure lineups. San Francisco’s most common batting order has only appeared in four games.
But the Giants are really grasping for solutions. And simply put: the Giants think Meckler is the best candidate provide a lift, so they want to get him as many at-bats as possible.
“We have been putting lineups out for a couple months that haven’t been over-the-top productive,” Kapler said. “We’re trying some things and playing with some things.”
Just like with a rookie, there’s no guarantee that mixing things up will work. But at this point, the Giants need to make more aggressive bets.
“Sometimes when you’re going through a struggle like your team has gone through for a while, you shake up the lineup, it might not work,” Kapler said. “You have a hitter’s meeting, it might not work. Some of the strategies you’ve deployed — with something like an opener or a featured arm — they might not work. But you keep trying things. And you try things that you think have a chance might be successful, and you move forward. That’s what we’re doing.”
- Zack Littell, who converted from the bullpen to a traditional starting role with the Rays this season, is taking the mound Tuesday night. Littell was a starter in the minors and has added a splitter more frequently; Kapler and others in the Giants clubhouse aren’t surprised to see him thriving.
Littell’s Giants tenure ended unceremoniously last fall, when he showed up Kapler during a mound visit. Kapler said he never thought the veteran was bad for the clubhouse or not a quality pitcher.
“He wasn’t at his best at the end there,” Kapler said.
- J.D. Davis isn’t in the Giants’ starting lineup for a second straight game. Kapler said he’d hoped to get him a full off day on Monday, but instead inserted him into the game as a pinch hitter.
Davis has been struggling at the plate, batting .145 over his past 20 games. He’s often been behind pitches, which is due to a combination of physical and mental challenges, Kapler said.
Wilmer Flores, who missed the series opener with an ear infection, is starting at third base.
- Top prospect Kyle Harrison is making his scheduled start for the River Cats on Tuesday night, quelling speculation that he could make his debut in the Rays series.
The Giants are confident in their ability to cover the next 18 innings. Harrison is coming off an excellent start at Triple-A and the club still considers him “start-to-start.”
- Giants chairman Greg Johnson said in a San Francisco Chronicle Q&A that “I don’t think we’d ever see ourselves massively exceeding that (competitive balance tax) level.” Also in the interview, he downplayed the Mission Bay development project’s eventual impact on the club’s payroll.
That doesn’t sound like someone who’s going to cut the biggest check in MLB history for Shohei Ohtani.