Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Can spring training last forever?
Much of the pessimism surrounding the 2020 Giants can be evaporated by the hot Arizona sun, which instead shines on the youth that the team and its fanbase hopes can turn the Giants into a contender again.
It probably won’t happen this season, but it looked within reach Friday at Scottsdale Stadium, where the Giants beat the Rockies, 9-6, in front of 7,785 in the first night game of the spring season.
The Giants improved to 5-2-1, which is as meaningless as a lost pet rock. Here are some takeaways:
Awed future
This camp may not be heightening expectations for 2020, but 2021 is looking brighter than ever.
Top center-field prospect Heliot Ramos, called up for a second time and for his first start, turned a 97-mph fastball into a two-run bomb to left-center in the sixth inning, circling the bases for the first time on a big-league field.
"He's so strong that he can drive the ball out of any part of the ballpark."
The scouting report on #SFGiants prospect Heliot Ramos certainly checks out after watching this #SpringTraining 💣.
Read more about Ramos on the #Top100Prospects list: https://t.co/R4mBnkm1Tq pic.twitter.com/N1XqlUdeVC
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) February 29, 2020
Two innings earlier he had collected his first hit, slapping one right back up the middle and clapping his hands when he reached first. It’s a sight Joey Bart — his companion in High-A San Jose and Double-A Richmond — had seen plenty last year, and hopes to see plenty of in the future.
For Bart, it was another humdrum 1-for-2-with-a-walk night in his first start, paired with Johnny Cueto for the first time in a game. Bart, whose power the other way has been evident, lined a single to right and has now reached base seven times in 10 plate appearances in camp.
Earlier Friday, Sean Hjelle pitched a scoreless inning for the second time this year, and Hunter Bishop nearly beat out an infield single. There are obstacles — Ramos looked fooled in his first at-bat, a quick strikeout; Bart has to stay healthy and will make the Buster Posey transition awkward; and Hjelle has pitched 25 innings above San Jose.
But the Giants’ future has been the star of camp thus far.
Assassin murders ball
Gabe Kapler has taken every opportunity possible to praise Brandon Belt, raving about his swings after hitless games, referring to him unprompted as an “assassin” at the plate.
The manager’s intention is to shower the first baseman with confidence, instilling in the polarizing Belt that this regime believes in him. Perhaps it just started paying off.
Belt’s first home run of the spring arrived in the fourth, the 31-year-old lifting the fifth pitch he saw from Jeff Hoffman over the right-field fence.
Belt also doubled, could not field a ground ball that got by him and compensated by picking a Yonathan Daza grounder with a runner on third and coming home for the out.
“Excellent on defense, really sound baserunning, good decisions, good decisions at the plate, and obviously driving the baseball,” Kapler said of Belt.
Belt has shown flashes and is looking healthy, which is a big deal for him. The Giants certainly would welcome his slugging bat to the middle of their lineup.
Johnny be good
It looked easy, and it might have been: Johnny Cueto did not look gassed afterward.
Thus far in camp, it’s been 14 1/3 innings for Giants starters and 14 1/3 innings without an earned run.
Apart from Dereck Rodriguez’s two unearned in the opener, the abbreviated outings have been perfect, a mantle Cueto picked up in his pair of scoreless innings. The quick-pitches were back — which must have been fun for Bart, who “always has to be ready,” Cueto said — and so were the results.
Beginning his first full camp post-Tommy John surgery, Cueto allowed a double and a walk but no runs, pitching his way out of a bit of a second-inning jam, getting a ground ball to Belt that turned into an out at home.
His fastball touched 93 mph, but “I can get more,” Cueto said in Spanish through translator Erwin Higueros. “I’m just working with my pitches right now.”
It must have been a pleasure for Gabe Kapler, seeing his ace on the mound for the first time.
“The moment I was hired I started thinking a lot about Johnny Cueto being removed enough from his Tommy John surgery and finishing the year strong like he did and what that might look like in 2020,” Kapler said before the game. “I think we all get excited about the athleticism and the ability to control his body. … As a fan of baseball, I’m excited to watch Johnny Cueto pitch. As manager of the Giants, equally enthused about what he’s done so far to get ready for this moment.”
Shaun of the dread
Shaun Anderson, who entered camp with designs on a starting job, has struggled mightily as a reliever.
Anderson has not been in the mix thus far among the de facto starting contenders, instead used for single innings later in games, and he couldn’t finish his frame for the second time.
Anderson, relying heavily on a slider that was not buzzing as fast as it did out of the bullpen last season, faced six Rockies and retired two, striking out Garrett Hampson but leaving with two on and having allowed two runs. Melvin Adon entered and made his spring line even uglier by surrendering a long homer to Dom Nunez.
In 1 2/3 innings for Anderson thus far in camp, he’s given up seven runs.
He’s back
Pablo Sandoval has another chance with the Giants, and he wasn’t going to leave the bat on his shoulder.
In his first at-bat of the spring season — less than six months after Tommy John surgery and far ahead of schedule — Sandoval blooped in an RBI single.
Pablo Sandoval’s first at-bat since Tommy John surgery went well. pic.twitter.com/TuT2n4EgcX
— KNBR (@KNBR) February 29, 2020
Sandoval kept on swinging in his second at-bat, eventually striking out, but he can be forgiven if he were a bit overeager. The Panda’s back.
