Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The Giants’ 167 home runs last season was good for fifth worst in all of baseball, an impressive 140 dingers behind the majors-leading Twins.
Despite the Oracle Park fences creeping in, there is little expectation that number can be souped up this year without an overturned roster. Yet, there is plenty of power on display in camp.
Saturday turned into a muscle show that Scottsdale Stadium hasn’t seen this spring. Granted, there is a solid chance that none of the suppliers make the Opening Day roster, but the 9,721 on hand were entertained.
And just about all of them rose to salute Zach Green. The oft-injured third baseman, trying to make it through camp and the season unscathed after finally debuting in the majors last season, crushed an Alex Colome offering in the sixth into deep, deep left-center, fully clearing the berm for a home run that was easily the deepest this camp. Except, perhaps for one hit two innings later.
Darin Ruf — another former Phillie — already had homered once, a more standard swat to right-center on a 2-2 count, the 33-year-old going with the outside pitch. Then the eighth inning came, Ruf again had two strikes on him, and the righty sent it into orbit.
“I have no idea,” Ruf said about how far it went, up and over the batters’ eye wall 430 feet away off lefty Bernardo Flores. “Hit it good, the wind blowing out, that helps it go a little bit further, so makes it look prettier.”
Asked which he preferred, Ruf said, “All home runs are equally as cool.”
His first also had an accompaniment, Joey Bart lasering the next pitch to right-center for his second homer of camp.
Ruf is making a strong play at a roster spot for a lefty-killer, Green (whom the Giants “may take a look at at corner locations,” Gabe Kapler said) likely will be waiting in the wings for Evan Longoria insurance, and the Giants have insisted the sizzling Bart needs more minor league reps.
Yet, they all made cases for themselves on a power-needy team during the 12-7 victory over the White Sox.
Tyler Beede will get a second opinion on his right elbow, for which an initial MRI showed a flexor strain and UCL sprain, in Los Angeles on Monday with Dr. Neal ElAttrache.
Yapson Gomez, the lefty reliever who has made a name for himself by being relentlessly entertaining, digging at the mound like a horse, pitched another scoreless inning.
“A lot of people grab popcorn when he comes into the game,” Kapler said. “For entertainment value alone, we’re really excited to see him come out of the pen. I’m actually excited to get to know him as a person because he came up with that — I don’t want to call them antics — I guess he came up with different deliveries for a reason and probably out of sheer creativity.”
This windup ??♂️ pic.twitter.com/G2sBthWRmP
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) March 3, 2020
Mauricio Dubon, who showed flashes of Joe Panik at second Saturday in a dive-and-flip that went for a double play, will see more time in center field next week, Kapler said. Dubon played third base Friday.
Tyler Anderson, the starter picked up from the Rockies, is still throwing bullpen sessions without a live BP scheduled.
“We really want to take it slow with him. There’s no rush,” Kapler said.