Hunter Pence Injury Will Not Doom San Francisco’s Season
The dreaded odd numbered curse has struck the San Francisco Giants again.
On Thursday, the Giants lost their premier energy source, Hunter Pence, to a high velocity, off-track fastball from a developing young pitcher. It seems that contrary to the belief of many Giants’ fans, Pence is human and is capable of feeling pain after all.
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So, the reigning world champions face an early hurdle before the regular season has even started, prompting auditions for the temporary right field vacancy. Pence is due to miss six to eight weeks with the broken arm. Fortunately for Pence and the Giants though, the injury will not require surgery. And given the fact that he has been one of the healthiest and hardest working players in the game, many believe it’s a safe bet that he will return earlier than expected.
Nevertheless, the Giants will be without their cleanup hitter for at least the first month of the season, and his bat will be missed during early battles with the Padres and Dodgers.
Thankfully, Bruce Bochy has more options in the outfield this season with the addition of Nori Aoki, as well as the return of Angel Pagan to the lineup. Also coming back for his fourth season in Orange and Black, is the safety blanket that is Gregor Blanco — a player who has served as the Giants emergency outfielder during his entire tenure with the team.
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The baseball gods have blessed Blanco with health, and he’s played three consecutive seasons of 140 games or more. In 2012, Melky Cabrera‘s PED suspension allowed the journeyman to take over the starting left field job. Once entrenched in the position, he impressed fans and coaches alike with an array of diving catches and sneaky speed, en route to helping the Giants to a World Series title.
Blanco opened the next season in a platoon with Andres Torres in left field, but it was Pagan’s injury that moved him into center field, a trend which repeated itself last season. Blanco played a stellar center field throughout the Giants’ playoff run — minus his nightmare mishandling of an Alex Gordon single turned triple in Game 7.
Madison Bumgarner picked him up, however, and Blanco enters this season as a two time champion. He is not on anyone’s fantasy team, but he has been extremely important to Bochy as a player who can be relied on to play every day and do the little things like bunting, hitting a clutch single down the right-field line and of course, playing defense.
Oct 25, 2014; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants center fielder Gregor Blanco scores a run against the Kansas City Royals in the 7th inning during game four of the 2014 World Series at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports
While Blanco is the favorite to replace Pence in the starting lineup, a lefty-righty platoon is still possible as he has struggled in his career against left-handed pitchers. This leaves a competition to watch this spring as Juan Perez, Gary Brown, and Justin Maxwell, look to earn a spot on the roster.
The Giants were impressed with Perez’s performance in the postseason as the young left fielder from the Bronx made a name for himself with his knack to make up for missed bunt attempts with hard singles up the middle. He also provided one of the more emotional moments of the 2014 playoffs when he dedicated his RBI double against fireballer Wade Davis in Game 5 of the World Series, to his friend, Oscar Taveras, who had passed away just hours before the game started.
It was Perez’s defense though, that allowed him to start in Game 7 over NLCS hero Travis Ishikawa. Gary Brown, is a former first round draft pick for the Giants, who just a couple of years ago, was seen as the center fielder of the future. After sub par seasons in the minor leagues however, his name has gotten lost in the mix of spring training invitees. But it has been his recent play in Spring Training, that can punch his ticket to San Francisco.
This past Friday, Brown clobbered a long home run in Scottsdale Stadium. He followed that up on Saturday with three impressive at-bats in which he showed plate discipline and the bat speed to add another two hits to his already impressive spring. He may also very well be the fastest Giants player in Scottsdale. He flashed that speed by scoring from first on a double in the 7th inning against the Padres on Saturday. In his next at-bat, his speed allowed him to stretch a routine single into a double.
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Brown has the most upside in this competition, but must show that he can be a consistent force at the plate — something which he has not done in his previous four seasons in the minor leagues. Justin Maxwell could add some much-needed power to this lineup as he hit seven home runs in a 2013 September call-up with the Kansas City Royals and leading the Houston Astros last year with 18 homers.
General Manager Brian Sabean and Bochy recently confirmed the possibility of the Nori Aoki hitting in the leadoff spot this upcoming season. That would move Pagan down to the third hole in order to increase Aoki’s potential. That potential lineup change signifies that the Giants are planning to replace Pablo Sandoval and Michael Morse‘s power with pure contact hitters that put the ball in play, work the count, and can steal the occasional base.
Bochy has been known to tinker with a lineup as his 2013 squad featured the most lineup combinations in the game — that lineup featured Pence as the lead off hitter to spark the offense. Given Pence’s injury though, Bochy’s most intriguing lineup in 2015 season could very well be:
1. Aoki
2. Joe Panik
3. Pagan
4. Buster Posey
5. Brandon Belt
7. Blanco
The main reason why many believe the Hunter Pence injury will not doom San Francisco’s season, is because this franchise is used to overcoming obstacles and adversity. The Giants have never been a fantastic team on paper during this dynasty. It’s been through their heart, determination, and the skill of their future Hall of Fame Manager, that they will their way to victory.
So while they will certainly miss Pence’s joyful personality, and high-energy, they will reward him by staying in the NL West race in his absence. And when Pence returns, he will provide that extra dimension to make this team complete.