SAN FRANCISCO — For Tristan Beck, the answer to Bob Melvin’s inquiry was obvious.
“I was all planned out to be in Sacramento today,” Beck said on Sunday morning. “BoMel called me yesterday … and was like, ‘Would you rather stay there or get activated?'”
After spending the last six months recovering from an aneurysm in his arm, Beck was activated from the injured list on Sunday as rosters around Major League Baseball expanded from 26 to 28 players. The Giants recalled catcher and outfielder Blake Sabol from Triple-A Sacramento as well, deciding to keep Marco Luciano, Luis Matos and the recently signed Cavan Biggio in the minors.
“He’s been working hard to get here, going through real life things like he did, and now all of a sudden, he’s back in the big leagues,” Melvin said. “Got a big smile on his face yesterday.”
Beck’s path to returning to a big-league mound took longer than he or the team expected.
In late February, Beck was diagnosted with an aneurysm in his arm. Several days later, Beck underwent surgery. He was cleared to throw in May, but didn’t begin rehab with Sacramento until early August. Beck allowed 12 runs over 13 2/3 innings (7.90 ERA) in five rehab appearances with the River Cats, and Melvin said the team views him as a “hybrid starter.”
“It was really easy to come out of surgery and say, ‘No muscle damage, no ligament damage, you can really speed this up.’ In theory, that makes a lot of sense,” said Beck, who had a 3.92 ERA last year as a rookie. “But you start looking at three, four months without touching a baseball, the arm takes a long time to get back into form. Once we got back to the mound, it was almost like day one of spring training.”
“It was feeling good all the way through. Arm still feels really good. Just back into true form — facing hitters, game situations, all that — definitely took longer than I think we all anticipated. There were little things here and there that come up as you’re building up. Worked through that and I’m feeling really good now to be able to help the guys out a little bit.”
While Beck and Sabol made their way to San Francisco, Biggio, Matos and Luciano remain with Sacramento. When Melvin was asked about the team’s decision to recall Sabol opposed to other options, he cited positional flexibility, Sabol’s left-handed bat and having three catchers.
“Marco’s not going to play quite a bit, at least at this point in time — there’s still a month. It doesn’t make sense just to get him here. Same thing with Matos,” Melvin said.
Sabol, 26, has spent most of the season with Triple-A Sacramento, his last game with the Giants being on May 17. In 84 games with the River Cats, Sabol has a .241 batting average with nine home runs, 11 steals and a .712 OPS.
Melvin expresses condolences to Pearsall
Prior to discussing the team’s roster moves, Melvin expressed his condolences to 49ers rookie wide receiver Ricky Pearrsall, who is in serious but stable condition after being shot in San Francisco’s Union Square on Saturday.
“It’s very unfortunate,” Melvin said. “Obviously, it’s been a concern. I think that it’s a concern in any city. You don’t hear about that much in Union Square. Heart goes out to him and the family. It certainly sets you back when you read about something like that.”
Melvin said the team addressed the shooting to ensure the team was informed. He added that there was a reminder of how to handle a potentially dangerous situation.
“I would hate for that to be the case that you can’t go to Union Square by yourself and go shopping,” Melvin said. “But, obviously it happened and everybody has a very heavy heart today.”
