San Francisco Giants Sign Slade Heathcott, Who Isn’t an Aging Infielder
On Friday, the San Francisco Giants signed former highly-regarded prospect Slade Heathcott, which is surprising considering he doesn’t fit in with their plans to sign every infielder they possibly can.
Spring Training is in full swing, with the entire team now taking parts in workouts and practice in preparation for games beginning next week. That hasn’t stopped the San Francisco Giants from continuing to bring in a glut of players to compete for jobs. On Friday, they added two players to big league camp on minor league deals, the more notable one being Aaron Hill. But more interesting than the Giants adding yet another aging infielder years past his prime, they signed outfielder Slade Heathcott.
Heathcott is only 26 years old, deviating from the Giants’ script of bringing in 30-something-year-old position players this offseason (Hill, Michael Morse, Jimmy Rollins, Gordon Beckham, Justin Ruggiano, Chris Marrero). He is also in the competition for best athlete name, as well.
Talent-wise, the Giants are getting a solid ballplayer to add to their farm system. Heathcott was a first-round pick in 2009, when the New York Yankees made him the 29th overall pick that year out of Texas High School. He made his way on to Baseball America’s top-100 prospect list in 2013, sliding in at number 63. He was twice named the Yankees’ second-best prospect, doing so in both 2012 and 2013.
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He’s an extremely toolsy player. He’s a very good defender out in center field, and has minimal experience in left field and right field, as well. He has the strong arm to match, racking up 30 outfield assists in 335 defensive appearances in the minor leagues.
The speed is there as well, with 65 stolen bases in 440 total games (but he has been caught stealing 37 times), plus 21 triples. He can work a walk to boot, with a career 9.3 percent walk rate in the minor leagues. Strikeouts have been a problem for Heathcott, with a 25.6 percent k-rate.
Strikeouts haven’t been the only issue for Heathcott. He’s been plagued by injuries for most of his career, undergoing two separate shoulder surgeries and two separate knee surgeries since 2011. He also spent time on the disabled list in 2015 for a quad strain, and in 2016 for another knee injury. He’s played 100 or more games in a season (all levels combined) only once, when he took part in 103 games for the Double-A Trenton Thunder in 2013.
Heathcott also had an issue with alcohol when he was younger. The problem became so bad that the multiple people within the Yankees’ system feared that Heathcott was putting his life in danger. But with the help of intervention coordinator Ron Dock and former major league pitcher Sam Marsonek (a recovering alcoholic himself), Heathcott found religion and got his life, and career, back on track.
After getting help, Heathcott made his major league debut in 2015 with the Yankees. He only played in 17 games and made just 28 plate appearances during that season, but he hit .400/.429/.720 with two doubles and two home runs.
Heathcott didn’t make it back to the big leagues in 2016, and another highly inconsistent offensive season made him expendable to the Yankees. He hit .230 in 23 games with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre before suffering a knee injury and being subsequently released. He was picked up by the Chicago White Sox on a minor league deal, and sent to Triple-A Charlotte. He was slightly better in the Sox organization, hitting .254, but complementing it with an impressive .407 OBP in 34 games.
Unlike with the other players the Giants signed, Heathcott has an opportunity to improve. Health has been his biggest enemy for pretty much his entire minor league career, but there is a good ballplayer in there. If he can get healthy and stay healthy, the Giants could end up getting a usable piece to their outfield puzzle for years to come.
Heathcott does get an invitation to big league camp with the Giants, and he will have a chance to compete with Gorkys Hernandez, among others, for a job on the big league bench. Hernandez has the obvious advantage, already being on the 40-man roster, and Heathcott will likely head down to Triple-A.
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Much like the crowded infield, the outfield is getting crowded as well. Heathcott will have to compete for playing time, even down at the minor league level, with guys like Austin Slater and Wynton Bernard, plus potentially Morse, Ruggiano, and Marrero. It seems like Brian Sabean and Bobby Evans have designs on Mac Williamson going back to Triple-A as well, which would only add to the logjam.
Heathcott has the tools, but his body has to hold up. If it does, the Giants might have a real steal of a deal here.