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After an injury-plagued 2018 season, the Giants have broke camp in Scottsdale and are hoping to escape spring training with a healthy roster. With many key players such as Madison Bumgarner, Evan Longoria, Brandon Belt, Johnny Cueto, and Buster Posey all battling injuries last season, Brandon Crawford fought through his own injuries and decided to play through them.
Crawford sat down with Murph & Mac Wednesday morning to discuss Giants spring training thus far, as well as reflect on the teams’ disappointing 2018 season. Crawford talked about all of the injuries last season and how he decided to play through his own, in an attempt to help an injury-ridden Giants team compete down the stretch.
“They say hindsight is 20/20,” Crawford said. “It was definitely something that was bothering me, but it was something that I thought I could knock out in like a week, take some anti-inflammatories, but it just kept bothering me the whole second half.”
Crawfords injury was to his knee and affected his power as a hitter, similar to that of Buster Posey’s hip injury.
Leaving camp in 2018, the Giants lost both Bumgarner and Samardzija to injuries to start the season. Shortly after, third baseman Longoria broke his hand and was sidelined for 6-8 weeks. In addition to Longoria, the Giants also lost Posey, Belt, Cueto and Pablo Sandoval to significant injuries throughout the season. As the Giants struggled to win games without their key players, Crawford took it upon himself to play through his injuries.
“So yeah, looking back at it, I definitely should have taken like ten days off in the middle of the season. We were right in the middle of it, trying to win every game and trying to help the team, but I probably wasn’t helping the team a whole lot, so I should have just taken those days off.
“It was a different injury, but kind of similar to Buster because he felt like he couldn’t drive his hips, and I felt like I couldn’t fire my back leg because of the knee.”
Unlike some of the other Giants injuries, Crawford’s was not one that would have sidelined him for an extended period of time.
“Taking one extra night off wouldn’t have done anything, but at the end of August, beginning of September I think I played only two games in the span of twelve days, and that helped.”
A fully healthy Giants roster in 2019 can propel the team forward as they try and make noise early on in the season. Crawford believes that if the Giants can escape camp without any major injuries, the team could have a shot in 2019.
“If we can get everybody healthy, we can put together a good season here. With the pieces we went out and got, and the core that we’ve had here for years, I don’t see why we can’t.”
Listen to the full interview with Brandon Crawford here:
