When Major League Baseball expanded rosters from 26 to 28 for the first month of the season, the Giants had tough decisions to make.
If they chose to bolster the pitching staff that won’t be all the way stretched out after an abbreviated spring training, they could risk losing some valued position players who no longer have options like Mauricio Dubón or possibly even Steven Duggar.
But injuries made those choices for the team. Evan Longoria (finger), LaMonte Wade Jr. (knee) and Tommy La Stella (Achilles) will begin the 2022 season on the 10-day injured list, allowing even more room on the roster than the two extra slots.
So here are the 15 pitchers and 13 batters the Giants are rolling with to begin their National League West title defense.
Starters (5): Logan Webb, Carlos Rodón, Anthony DeSclafani, Alex Wood, Alex Cobb
The starting rotation has been cemented for about a month, since Rodón signed with SF in free agency.
San Francisco’s rotation with Webb and Rodón as co-aces, projects to be a major strong point of the roster. In spring training, Giants starters posted a combined 3.67 ERA in 17 games. They allowed just six home runs and struck out 63 compared to 15 walks.
Not every starter will be conditioned to go 7-plus innings from the jump, but the Giants expect them to be ready to pitch with good length even in April.
“I think they’re going to be foundational to our success,” president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi told reporters Thursday.
Note: Matthew Boyd is starting the year on the 60-day IL but could factor into the rotation in the second half of the year. Carlos Martínez, who’s on a minor league deal, is working on his conditioning down in Arizona.
Relievers (10): Jake McGee, Camilo Doval, Tyler Rogers, Dominic Leone, Jarlín García, José Álvarez, Zack Littell, Tyler Beede, Sam Long, John Brebbia
The Giants brought back much of their bullpen that led the majors in ERA (2.99) last year. There were surprises, though.
Beede, a former first round pick, has struggled with command and doesn’t appear ready to pitch in leverage big-league games. But he’s out of options, so the Giants chose to carry him rather than risk losing him to another team on waivers.
Brebbia struggled last year after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2020. But he has a major league track record, and SF is high on his arm talent.
Long didn’t light the world on fire last year with the Giants, but this offseason he’s been working on creating a more powerful, consistent position with his lower half that prevents stress on his back. Long also gives the Giants an option to take down multiple innings.
Ten relievers is a lot. The staff knows that. For most of the spring, Giants officials hinted at a balanced roster with 14 pitchers and 14 position players. But having extra arms to start the year should be beneficial, Zaidi said, and it’s become the trend for teams this year after a shortened spring.
Zaidi said they’re not married to the uber cautious approach, but thinks it’ll be helpful as the Giants open their season with six straight games and then a 19 games in 20 days stretch. Some who didn’t make the 28-man roster, like Kervin Castro, Jakob Junis and Sean Hjelle, could see time with the big league club as necessary.
Catchers (2): Joey Bart, Curt Casali
Bart will start Opening Day behind the dish for the Giants, forming a homegrown battery with Logan Webb the Giants organization has prided itself on developing. He’ll likely get the majority of the starts, mixing in with defensive minded veteran Curt Casali.
In 2020, when Buster Posey opted out of the shortened season, Bart hit .233 with no home runs in 33 games. He looked overwhelmed behind the plate defensively, struggling with the speed of the game.
He’s grown a lot since then, he told reporters Thursday. He spent time during the lockout catching bullpen sessions from Alex Wood in their home state of Georgia and then worked to download each pitcher’s reportaires in camp.
Bart hit three home runs in 22 spring at-bats. He drove in seven runs, most on the team.
Nobody can replace Buster Posey. And Bart won’t try to; his raw power makes him a different type of player than Posey. It also makes him Logan Webb’s favorite for NL Rookie of the Year.
And the rookie seems relaxed and confident ahead of Opening Day.
“He’s definitely earned that responsibility,” Gabe Kapler said. “He’s ready for this moment.”
Infielders (6): Brandon Crawford, Brandon Belt, Thairo Estrada, Mauricio Dubón, Wilmer Flores, Luke Williams
Injuries to Longoria and La Stella made things interesting for this group. Longoria is on Day 9 of 10 of post-surgery finger immobilization. He’s still wearing a splint, though Kapler said he did some light on-field work. La Stella, meanwhile, didn’t look great in his last spring training game and was scratched out of the lineup in the Cactus League finale.
La Stella and Longoria’s IL-stints opened up a path for Dubón and Williams, a super utility player who carries seven different gloves for any positional need.
Dubón is out of options, so the injuries made his big league fate a bit clearer. The Honduran born infielder moved to Sacramento as a high schooler and grew up a Giants (and Brandon Crawford) fan.
Williams gives the Giants the positional flexibility they covet. In 58 games for the Phillies last year, he played every position besides catcher and pitcher.
“Watching him move around the field is very impressive,” Bart said of Williams. “That defensive aspect is really elite. Even just watching him shag balls in the outfield, he gets to balls in a hurry. So I think he’s going to be a real weapon for us.”
The Giants should hope Williams is closer to the hitter he was in eight spring training games (.313/.353/.563) than he was with Philadelphia, when he hit .245 with one homer in 108 plate appearances.
Outfielders (5): Mike Yastrzemski, Darin Ruf, Joc Pederson, Austin Slater, Steven Duggar
Mike Yastrzemski will look to bounce back from his 2021 in which he took a step back in terms of batting average and on-base percentage despite maintaining power. Yastrzemski took a pitch to the hand in last year’s final spring training game, which made him uncomfortable in the box throughout the season. He’s past that now, and his ability to hit both right-handed and left-handed pitching could make him a bellwether for SF’s lineup.
Offseason acquisition Joc Pederson could be the preseason betting favorite for most Splash Hits this year. He’ll likely start alongside Yastrzemski and Steven Duggar on Opening Day against Miami’s probable starter Sandy Alcantara — a righty.
Ruf will start the year as a relatively regular designated hitter given the injuries. Once Wade Jr., La Stella and Longoria return, he could stick in left field as the Giants will be hard-pressed to remove his right-handed power from the lineup.
