If the Giants’ four-game series against Milwaukee this week was an audition, rookie left fielder Austin Slater earned a call back.
After launching a towering 461-foot home run in the fourth inning of Thursday’s series finale, Slater finds himself in the Giants’ lineup for the second straight evening as the team returns home to take on the Minnesota Twins.
Slater finished 1-for-2 with a walk and a hit-by-pitch in the Giants’ 10-inning win over the Brewers, and on Friday afternoon, skipper Bruce Bochy said Slater would see the lion’s share of the reps in left field in the immediate future.
Slater started two of the Giants’ four games in Milwaukee, with fellow rookie Orlando Calixte starting the other two contests. On Friday, the organization optioned Calixte to AAA Sacramento to make room for new reliever Sam Dyson on the club’s 40-man roster, giving Slater a golden opportunity to shine in left field.
“He’s (Slater) going to get a lot of the playing time,” Bochy said. “(Gorkys) Hernandez had a nice day yesterday too, but Slater, probably most of the time out there in left field.”
Bochy’s plans for Slater:
“He’s going to get a lot of playing time” pic.twitter.com/o1MiYuwKuA
— KNBR (@KNBR) June 10, 2017
Hernandez enjoyed his first three-hit game of the season in Milwaukee on Thursday, and helped kick off the team’s 10th inning rally with a leadoff single, but for most of his career, Hernandez has struggled at the plate. Even after recording a trio of singles against the Brewers, Hernandez enters Friday’s game with a .194 batting average on the season.
Slater became the 10th different Giants’ player to start a game in left field for the club this season earlier this week, as the team has dealt with injuries and poor performances at the position throughout the season.
Giants’ general manger Bobby Evans said the club envisioned Jarrett Parker and Mac Williamson competing for the starting job in spring training this season, but Williamson suffered an injury in Scottsdale and Parker broke his collarbone in mid-April which left the team without either of its primary options at the outset of the year.
Williamson is currently playing with the AAA Sacramento Rivercats, while Bochy Friday he anticipates Parker will begin a rehab assignment in the next 10 days or so.
“He’s (Parker) here, he’s going to take some swings, continue his rehab, we just have to get the upper body a little stronger, he’s not quite there yet,” Bochy said. “That’s why he hasn’t started it. We’ll do that, if I had to guess, he’s probably 10 days, in that area, away from starting his rehab.”
