The youth movement is on in San Francisco, and it might be right on time.
The Giants are running out of players.
San Francisco is down six position players, including three top-part-of-the-order hitters, at the moment.
Every time someone comes back, the Giants seem to lose two more. On Saturday, the Giants returned Patrick Bailey to the lineup after a week-long stint on the concussion list, only to see Michael Conforto pull his hamstring int hat game and see Jung Hoo Lee separate his shoulder in the first inning on Sunday.
Both injuries are bad news for a Giants team that cannot hit with both players. What happens now they’re sidelined — and in Lee’s case, perhaps for a long while?
I’ll tell you:
Giants fans should get what they want.
For the last few weeks I’ve heard from countless Giants fans who were clamoring to call up someone, anyone from Triple-A Sacramento to mix up the medicore (at best) monotony of this Giants lineup.
Well, these things often take care of themselves. Ask and you shall receive. With Dave Groeschner’s training room overflowing, it’s time for a youth movement in San Francisco.
Ready, or not.
But as daunting as trusting the kids might be — the Giants remain in a hole, four games under .500 as of Monday morning — this might prove to be the best thing for the organization.
For a team that hasn’t won anything in a while, now, the Giants sure were incongruously old coming into the season.
The Giants have the third oldest lineup in baseball this season, and, as if they wanted to highlight that fact, this team has marginal power and is slower than the line at the Oracle Park craft beer stands.
Pair that with a glaring lack of star power — Lee, Jorge Soler, and Matt Chapman have been below average at the plate and I heard the television broadcast extoll the “greatness” of Bailey last week (I thought they were talking about someone else; he’s a solid player, but let’s get serious) — and the Giants have a no-man’s land roster.
And despite the front office’s best efforts to leave the team’s young players in Sacramento, they’re coming up now. San Francisco has no other choice but to play the kids.
It started with Heliot Ramos, who was called up on May 8 after Soler was placed on the injured list. Ramos had eight home runs with a .957 OPS in 30 games with Triple-A Sacramento — he was the right call to be the first man up.
And he’s made an impact since he’s come back to the big leagues. Ramos has five hits in five games, scoring four runs and driving in two. He’s lacing the ball while playing some slick outfield in the process. His at-bats, while hardly perfect, are worth watching for more than the novelty factor. The kid has juice.
But it’s more than Ramos. Luis Matos is up, too — called into action after Conforto and Austin Slater were sidelined over the weekend. Matos is likely to see serious action, too, with Lee now out of the lineup.
Matos wasn’t able to replicate his excellent spring training when the Giants sent him to Sacramento, but that strong showing in Arizona cannot be ignored, either.
While the Giants’ front office likely feels vindicated for not starting Matos in right field on MLB Opening Day, they need Spring Training Matos now.
Casey Schmitt, who was hitting well in Sacramento (.768 OPS), is on the big-league roster again, as well. He had a game-winning double in extra innings on Sunday — the culmination of several solid at-bats in the game. His swing looks flatter and more competitive, and when you have his glove, that’s good enough to hold down the bottom of the order, with some positive surges of power along the way.
Brett Wisely, who was thriving at Triple-A (.890 OPS), is up, too. And San Francisco is one more twisted ankle or tweaked oblique away from making the call for shortstop Marco Luciano, who is doing exactly what was expected in Sacramento at the plate. (The whole shortstop thing remains a work in progress — but, frankly, I’ve never been bullish on him at that position.)
That’s two 25-year-olds, a 24-year-old, and a 22-year-old already on the roster. Another 22-year-old is on the fringe.
Toss them all into the mix and the Giants lineup has a much different look and a much different energy level.
Will it be better than what the Giants were trotting out there before (emphasis on trot)?
Probably not.
But perhaps.
Let’s be real: what are the Giants losing by tossing some kids out there?
I don’t expect these call-ups to constitute a future core, but at least there is promise in a lineup, that if given a chance to play, could be one of the youngest in baseball.
Ultimately, I’m only expecting — no, hoping — one of these players performs well enough during their call-up to stick around for the rest of the season.
If it’s Ramos or Matos (or Luciano), the Giants could have something foundational.
Yes, foundational, as in the kind of piece that seemingly ever team in baseball has.
But no matter if the call-ups are seen as hot-shots or depth pieces, the Giants, desperate for a spark, are now in a position to find one.
And perhaps that spark can help pull this organization out of the one-year-at-a-time malaise it has been stuck in since Farhan Zaidi took over.
The future is now for the Giants. And while it might have arrived abruptly, it might just be right on time.
