San Francisco Giants: Ehire Adrianza Staking His Claim to a Roster Spot

No longer built like a sapling, Ehire Adrianza is putting together a strong spring for the San Francisco Giants in a bid to make the opening day roster.

The battle to make the San Francisco Giants‘ opening day roster as a bench player is heating up with only 11 Spring Training games left before the regular season opens. With a large contingent of players competing for two, maybe three open spots, one player that has stuck out is infielder Ehire Adrianza.

After putting on around 15 pounds during the offseason, a noticeably thicker Adrianza has been impressive through Spring Training. While getting a good chunk of playing time all around the infield, Adrianza has been squaring up balls at a much better rate, getting loud contact just about every chance he gets. While he hasn’t shown home run power yet, he does have a team-leading six doubles among his 16 hits, and has driven in six runs, not a bad total for a guy that has mostly hit in the bottom third of the batting order.

The switch-hitting infielder is showing a nice approach to all fields, which has become a common attribute for players coming up through the Giants’ farm system. He’s also making much more contact than he has in the past, striking out just five times in 51 plate appearances (9.8 percent strikeout rate, compared to an 18.1 percent rate from 2013 to 2015). Even more important for him, he’s played great defense at a number of different positions, including first base and third base, two spots at which he doesn’t have a lot of experience.

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Adrianza is no stranger to competing for a job. During last spring, Adrianza was designated for assignment after struggling through the exhibition period to make room for young upstart Matt Duffy, and everyone knows how that story went. He cleared waivers, went to Triple-A Sacramento, and returned to the Giants mid-season. Now, the cycle is repeating as the infielder finds himself in another battle to earn a role.

Of course, all these 2016 spring stats deserve the obligatory “SMALL SAMPLE SIZE” sticker, but right now, those small sample sizes are extremely important. While spring numbers don’t matter much for established players, they mean exponentially more to someone who is competing for a roster spot. They will likely decide whether Adrianza keeps a spot on the 25-man roster, or finds himself on the way out again.

If the Giants do keep Adrianza, they don’t need him to be a .280 hitter, or slug 15 home runs. He’s not that hitter, and as a 26-year-old that would get inconsistent playing time, at best, he won’t turn into that hitter. What the Giants do need from Adrianza is what has made him a valuable asset to the team in the first place: his defense. His glove is what got him to the major leagues in the first place, and it has what kept him coming back to that level.

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If anything, Adrianza has been similar so far to a rookie Brandon Crawford. When Crawford first came up with the Giants in 2011, he was a defensive-minded shortstop, and hit .204 over 220 plate appearances in his first season. In parts of three seasons, Adrianza is a .211 hitter over 260 plate appearances. As Crawford aged and received more consistent playing time, he became a very solid offensive shortstop to go with his all-world defensive prowess. Adrianza may never become the player that Crawford has shown himself to be, but there absolutely is room for improvement with consistent time.

But this spring, Adrianza has shown glimpses of that offensive potential. A more patient approach, coupled with a stronger upper body, has allowed Adrianza to show that he can be a contributor at the plate, rather than just in the field.

Adrianza isn’t just competing with Kelby Tomlinson for a roster spot. Tomlinson’s roster spot is likely set as the team’s primary backup infielder, but there’s no reason to believe that the team won’t keep both Tomlinson and Adrianza, given they decide to keep 13 position players instead of the 12 they kept for almost all of 2015. Even still, Adrianza has given the team no reason to cut him.

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There aren’t, or rather there shouldn’t be, very high expectations for Adrianza. He’s not an offensive difference maker and will probably never turn into one. His glove is what sets him apart, and that’s what the Giants need.

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