San Francisco Giants Notes 3/28: Span’s Speed, Hwang’s Walk, Okert
On Tuesday, the San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs locked horns in the final game in Arizona, with the Giants coming back to win 10-7.
Denard Span picked up a pair of hits and scored twice on Tuesday, but the ways he crossed the plate couldn’t have been any more different. In the first inning, Span hit his second home run of the spring, driving Cubs’ hurler Jake Arrieta‘s second pitch of the afternoon out well beyond the right field fence. He scored his first run of the day with a leisurely stroll around the bases. The second run was a bit more fast-paced.
With one out in the second inning, Span put down a well-placed bunt to the left side of the infield, and Arrieta’s throw to first was wide to allow Span to reach safely with his second hit. During Brandon Belt‘s at-bat next, Span showed off some wheels by stealing second base for his second steal this spring. A few pitches later, Arrieta’s curveball got away from catcher Miguel Montero and bounced well away from the backstop. Span raced to third base and never stopped, keeping the speed and scoring ahead of Montero’s throw to the plate.
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After a miserable start to the spring that saw Span hitting well under .100 for a while, his second hit of the afternoon brought his spring average up to an even .300. Span couldn’t get over that mark in his third at-bat, but put another good swing on and lining a ball to center field in the fifth inning. Perennial Gold Glover Jason Heyward didn’t have to move very far to snag the liner.
The now 33-year-old center fielder has looked like a new man this spring after a disappointing premier season in San Francisco. He is now more than a full year removed from hip surgery that ended his 2015 season, and has been showing off some serious wheels this spring. At his peak, Span is a dangerous player in the batter’s box, on the basepaths, and in center field. The Giants could surely use a guy like that.
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Steven Okert has been one of the Giants’ most consistently successful pitchers this spring, but his perfect ERA is no more. He gave up his first run on Tuesday on a one-out solo home run Yasiel Balaguert, driving his ERA all the way up to 1.04. He recovered to retire the next two batters without a hitch, including picking up a strikeout on a nice slider down and in to a right-handed batter. He ended the day with a 0.96 ERA on the spring, equaling out to just one run in 9.1 innings thrown. Nothing is standing between Okert and the opening day roster.
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Earlier today I wrote about Barney Nugent award winner Jae-gyun Hwang and how going to Triple-A would probably be the best move for him. Hwang has mentioned that he’s had a bit of trouble adjusting to the big league strike zone, and before Tuesday, hadn’t taken a walk in 45 plate appearances. On Tuesday, he got off the schneid by seeing ball four for the first time in the United States. He also added a single up the middle in the ninth inning
But it was still easy to tell that Hwang has some issues with the zone. The American strike zone is generally considered to be wider than the one normally seen in Korea, and when Hwang took a 3-1 pitch that was borderline on the outside part of the plate, he began to leave the box and take first before the umpire called strike two. It wouldn’t make a difference either way, as the next pitch turned out to be really be ball four.
Next: Giants Notes 3/25: Hwang, Bullpen
These are small things, but it does take time to get used to the small idiosyncrasies of the game stateside. Hwang had been playing in Korea so long that the habits he picked up there will be hard to break, harder than getting rid of a bat flip. It will take a little time to get used to that outside pitch being called a strike, or to lay off the pitch above the strike zone, since the American strike zone is usually a bit lower as well.