San Francisco Giants: A Path is Opening Up for Jimmy Rollins

With a couple of dominos falling the right way, the path has gotten a bit clearer for Jimmy Rollins as he tries to crack the San Francisco Giants’ opening day roster.

Over the past few days, the San Francisco Giants have lost a couple of depth infielders. Ramiro Pena, a utility infielder, passed up a minor league contract with the Giants and took an opportunity to play with the Hiroshima Carp of Nippon Professional Baseball over in Japan. Ehire Adrianza, another utility infielder, was claimed off waivers by the Milwaukee Brewers.

Pena played just 30 games for the Giants in 2016, but made sizable contributions in such a short time. He hit .299/.330/.425 with six doubles and 10 RBI while playing all over the infield, and helped the Giants enter the All-Star break with the best record in baseball.

2016 was Adrianza’s fourth big league season, and he made his biggest offensive improvement yet. He had a great showing in Spring to earn an opening day roster spot, and looked like a real contributor early on. He even hit a home run off Clayton Kershaw in April before a foot fracture sidelined him for nearly three months. He continued to contribute in a limited role after returning, but was never able to truly push himself off the roster bubble. He was designated for assignment when the Giants signed Nick Hundley to a big league deal.

More from Golden Gate Sports

These moves could turn out to be great opportunities for Pena and Adrianza, with playing time more likely on their new respective clubs, but it can also be an opportunity for Jimmy Rollins. The path to the big leagues is getting a bit less cluttered for the 38-year-old former National League MVP, with two players in his position group moving on. Rollins is just an injury away from cracking the Giants’ 25-man roster.

Okay, maybe he’s not just one injury away. The Giants do have Orlando Calixte on the 40-man roster, and the 24-year-old Calixte has experience all around the infield, and some in the outfield as well. He does have a leg up on Rollins, but the elder statesmen of the Giants’ infield group is closer to the big league club than he was just a week ago.

He still has to prove himself, even with his stellar résumé. Father Time has gotten the best of Rollins in recent year, as he has a .233/.304/.370 slash-line over the past three seasons. Last season with the Chicago White Sox was his worst yet, with a .221/.295/.329 slash-line and two home runs in 41 games. He didn’t sign with another team after being designated for assignment on June 10th so Chicago could promote Tim Anderson, a top shortstop prospect. He can still add something to a bench, though, as he does have 32 home runs and 45 stolen bases in the last three years.

The Giants can’t really afford to keep a player who plays only one position on the bench, especially if the team goes with the 13-man pitching staff that has been customary over the past two seasons. That could impact Rollins’ chances as well. In his big league career, Rollins has played 19,514 defensive innings with 19,513.2 coming at shortstop. The lone exception was one-third of an inning at second base way back in 2002. In addition to proving himself offensively, Rollins would need to prove he can do more than play shortstop.

With Kelby Tomlinson and Conor Gillaspie seemingly having the inside track to opening day bench jobs, Rollins still needs a few more dominos to fall in his favor. Tomlinson has continued to prove he can be a difference maker on offense, with a smooth hitting approach to all fields and game-changing speed. He can also play second base, third, and shortstop, as well as a little bit of outfield. As long as Tomlinson is healthy, there’s no reason that Rollins should jump him on the depth chart.

But if those injuries issues should rear their ugly head again, that’s where Rollins could come in to play. Joe Panik and Brandon Belt do have fairly-extensive injury histories, and all of Brandon Crawford‘s playing time without a serious injury is bound to catch up to him at some point. An injury to one of those guys, or one of the bench options, will certainly shake things up.

Next: Two SF Farmhands Among MLB's Top Prospects

For now, Rollins just needs to come into camp, play as well as he can, and spread the expertise that comes from being a 17-year big league veteran with the younger guys in camp. Who knows what could happen down on that hard infield in Arizona?

Home/San Francisco Giants