D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports
You can stop yelling about Gabe Kapler inserting Gregory Santos into tense, late-game situations.
The Giants sent the 21-year-old with electric, if unpolished, stuff down Wednesday, the corresponding move to adding outfielder Mike Tauchman to the 26-man roster.
He made three appearances in which he displayed an excellent hard slider and an upper-90s fastball, closer-type stuff that was displayed when he struck out Trevor Story to begin Tuesday’s 10th inning. But also a lack of command, as evidenced by the home runs to Ryan McMahon and C.J. Cron that followed.
In delivering the news, Kapler wanted to emphasize to the righty “that we really, really believe in him.”
“Good pitchers get hit, and this is an opportunity for him to continue to go work,” the manager said before the Giants finished up a series with the Rockies at Oracle Park. “It’s not an indication that he’s not good enough to pitch at this level and be a valuable part of our bullpen for a really long time. Tried to convey that these decisions are not punitive, they’re not about failure to perform, oftentimes they’re about: We just want you to continue your work and right now this is the best place for you to do that.”
For now, the Giants will have an even shallower pool of righty bullpen options. Tyler Rogers has been excellent but overused; Matt Wisler has struggled mightily; and Camilo Doval is young but has shown glimpses of brilliance.
Kapler said Santos is “going to make an impact in our bullpen this season.”
