Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
LOS ANGELES — LaMonte Wade Jr. was playing a lot more outfield than first base at Triple-A Sacramento, but he doesn’t think that is a problem. He has played plenty of first in the past, both in college and professionally, and looked smooth in an earlier game with the Giants this season.
His face is looking the part, too. Mike Yastrzemski recruited him for Mustache May earlier this month, and Wade might be the winner.
“It’s not bad,” Wade said before the Giants’ 4-3 loss at Dodger Stadium on Thursday. “I’ve been getting Steve Harvey. I got Dave Winfield, too.”
He may not be competing with just Austin Slater in the facial hair category, though.
After losing Brandon Belt and Darin Ruf back to back to the injured list, the Giants have an abrupt need at first base. Jason Vosler started at the spot without incident in the opener against the Dodgers, while Wade (who was recalled once Ruf got hurt), Slater and Alex Dickerson took ground balls at the position before the game.
The solution might return Saturday, when Wilmer Flores could come off the injured list from a right hamstring strain. But his immediate activation is not a sure thing, and he was hitting .219 without much power before he went down.
Friday, when the Dodgers turn to righty Walker Buehler, there is a good chance it will be another chance for Wade, a lefty hitter who had gotten the beginnings of a shot in April, then suffered a strained left oblique. Wade feels better and has continued working on a swing that he has been retooling since he came over to the Giants from the Twins. He said he feels it’s “close.”
He is 3-for-11 in his brief time with the Giants while showing off a batting eye that attracted the Giants to Wade in the first place. He might not be Mike Tauchman at the plate, but with Sacramento he has walked 13 times and struck out 12.
“We’re putting in good work in the cages and everything and it felt pretty good in Sacramento and just trying to transfer it here,” Wade said.
Adding Tauchman and Steven Duggar emerging as an offensive threat, both lefty-hitting outfielders, shuffled the role Wade was projecting to play, but the Giants appear to be having a first-base tryout that he is right in the mix of.
