Giants place Joe Panik on DL with left groin strain pic.twitter.com/trDS3THlRh
— KNBR (@KNBR) July 7, 2018
SAN FRANCISCO — Giants manager Bruce Bochy announced Friday night after the team’s game with the St. Louis Cardinals that Joe Panik will be placed on the disabled list with a left groin strain that he suffered while going from first to third in the fourth inning. Bochy further noted that Panik will undergo an MRI to help better determine the severity of the injury.
“I’ll go out and say he’s definitely heading to the DL,” Bochy said. “Bad break there. He did a pretty good job on the groin. We are going to get an MRI tomorrow, but it looks like he’s heading to the DL.”
Bochy also announced that Alen Hanson will be the everyday second baseman during Panik’s absence, while Austin Slater will receive most of the playing time in left field.
“It’s a DL situation, so we’ll huddle up here and we’ll talk about what move we’re going to make,” Bochy said. “Meanwhile, you’ll see Hanson at second base, and Slater, he’ll get most of the time in left field.”
Additionally, Bochy praised Panik’s steadiness at second while noting how the Giants’ improved depth has helped them weather the storm of injuries they have experienced this season.
“Joe, he’s just a steady player,” Bochy said. “He’s a good left-handed bat, steady at second. He’s just a solid player that knows how to play the game, and we’ve missed him before. He’s been on the DL, and we have to overcome this. Longo’s on the DL, we’ve had to deal with enough of these this year. So I said we have more depth, which we do, cause now (Hanson) can go to second, and he’ll probably be a little more comfortable at one position. We’ve been moving him around a lot, and that’s probably affected him a little bit, to be honest. So just leaving him there, and I’ll play Slater a lot in left field, but we have some other guys to help out there. But we’ll miss Joe.”
Giants fans have been clamoring for Slater to get more at-bats since the team called him up from Triple-A Sacramento, and that time has now come, albeit under less than ideal circumstances.
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