Giants recall outfielder Williamson as Duffy goes on DL and Arroyo stays on the farm
PITTSBURGH — As expected, the Giants recalled outfielder Mac Williamson from Triple-A Sacramento and placed Matt Duffy on the 15- day disabled list with a left Achilles’ strain.
Williamson will give the Giants another right-handed bat in the lineup against left-handed starters, which they they will face Wednesday and Thursday.
Williamson is 3-for-20 against lefties this season, no great shakes, but like left-handed counterpart Jarrett Parker he does have the ability to run into a pitch and hit it out, as he did against David Price on June 8 for his first big-league home run.
At some point before Hunter Pence’s return I suspect we will see recently signed Chris Denorfia, but he needs a “spring training” in Arizona before he even gets at-bats in Sacramento.
I know many fans wanted to see Christian Arroyo, the Giants’ top prospect, get the call and play third base.
[...] I stoked the fire some with a comment from manager Bruce Bochy saying all options including Arroyo would be discussed.
[...] very quickly the club decided to hand third base to Ramiro Pena and Conor Gillaspie while Duffy is out, at least initially, and add Mac Williamson as a much-needed right-handed bat.
The Giants also feel he could use more time in the minors considering his age — he just turned 21 — and paucity of at-bats above Class A (242).
Assuming Duffy is out two or three weeks, Arroyo would return to the minors to play every day, forcing them to use 2016 as one of his three option years.
[...] if Arroyo takes a 40-man spot now, that’s one fewer spot they can use in December to protect players from being taken in the Rule 5 draft.
Remember, they delayed promoting Brandon Crawford in 2011 and Joe Panik in 2014 and gave starts and at-bats to the aging likes of Miguel Tejada, Orlando Cabrera and, for four inglorious games, Dan Uggla.
[...] when they called on Crawford and Panik, the Giants discovered they could play in the big-leagues.
Incidentally, the Giants face three right-handed starters this weekend against the Phillies at AT&T Park.
A leftover from Monday night’s 1-0 loss to the Pirates that got lost in the Duffy news:
Lefty Jeff Locke was throwing a shutout and had only 84 pitches when Pirates manager pulled him with two outs in the seventh inning, a runner at second and Madison Bumgarner due up.
Henry Schulman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.