SAN FRANCISCO — After one of the Giants’ first games of the season, Bob Melvin sat in his office in the bowels of Petco Park and raved about the potential All-Star season their second baseman had ahead of him.
It hasn’t panned out that way for Thairo Estrada, who was activated from the injured list before Monday’s series opener against the White Sox, but perhaps not coincidentally the 28-year-old from Bejuma, Venezuela, will tell you that was the last time he was at full health.
“First of all I’m very happy to be back,” Estrada said through team interpreter Erwin Higueros. “Right now, I feel 100%. I don’t feel any pain. I feel good.”
Before a sprained left wrist sidelined him for the past three weeks, Estrada was batting .216/.249/.353 — a .601 OPS — and on pace for career lows in almost every offensive category. Over the past three seasons, he had been 5% better than the league-average hitter but this year had been among the league’s worst, with an OPS+ of 71 (100 is average).
“This year hasn’t been his best, but we feel like he’s fully healthy now and coming off a good rehab assignment,” Melvin said. “Hopefully it’s a nice boost to the lineup.”
In five games with Triple-A Sacramento, Estrada registered nine hits in 21 at-bats (a .429 average), including a home run and a double Sunday.
The Giants’ lineup, meanwhile, has scored more than four runs just once in the past 10 games — a National League-worst 2.78 per contest — while batting around the Mendoza line as a team and even worse with runners in scoring position, and Estrada acknowledged, “it’s hard to say that with me coming in we’re just going to start scoring runs. That’s not easy to do.”
Estrada’s replacements haven’t been part of the solution. Since landing on the IL on July 26, Giants second basemen have been the fifth-worst offensive group in the majors, batting a collective .217/.252/.360 with a league-low 3.2% walk rate.
The left-handed hitting Brett Wisely was optioned to Triple-A in a corresponding move, leaving the Giants with a lack of platoon options but a more reliable defender to back up the middle-infield positions in Casey Schmitt.
“Right now (Schmitt) probably just adds a little bit more,” Melvin said. “Against lefties, we can probably get one more right-handed bat in there.”
Since the start of August, Wisely was 4-for-25 with a .392 OPS.
“I think Wise just needed to get some at-bats,” Melvin said. “He lost a little confidence, maybe he was pressing a little too much. But he’s been really good at times for us this year. … It’s in there. He’s just having a little bit of a tough time right now.”
It has been a tough season for Estrada, whose wrist has forced him to the IL on two occasions while also leading the team with five hit-by-pitches, which have often gotten him on his hand, wrist or forearm. But he was back in the lineup, batting seventh, and hopeful his fortunes would start to turn around.
“You depend on your hands for a lot of things (as a hitter),” Estrada said. “Think about having pain in your hands and trying to hit a baseball that is 99 or 100 mph; it’s very difficult. You can have pain in any other part of your body, but if you have your hands healthy you’re going to be able to play.
“The good thing is I have talent. I’m 100%. And I’m going to go out there and compete and give my all and help the team win.”
