San Francisco Giants: Left Field Competition Heats Up on Sunday
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The San Francisco Giants’ left field competition heated up on Sunday, with both frontrunners having big days in the Cactus League.
The San Francisco Giants are holding an open competition for the left field job, giving two of their young studs an opportunity to earn the everyday job. Though Spring Training started on Friday, Mac Williamson and Jarrett Parker really got the competition started on Sunday.
The first two days of Cactus League play were rather inconspicuous for both players. On Friday, Parker struck out in two at-bats and took a walk while starting in left field, and Williamson grounded out twice on Saturday when it was his turn to start. On Sunday, both outfielders were in the starting lineup, and both took advantage.
Parker played right field and hit cleanup while Williamson was in left and hit fifth. In the first inning, Parker stroked a single to right field, and almost brought home a run. But instead, Reds’ right fielder Scott Schebler gunned Joe Panik down at the plate. Williamson led off the second inning with a base hit, when the broken bat bleeder found its way through to center field. He scored when Conor Gillaspie followed up with a booming, two-run home run.
In the third inning, Parker worked a walk with one-out, and moved to second when Williamson smoked a line-drive basehit up the middle for his second hit. Each man would eventually score as the Giants took a lead against the Reds. The fourth inning saw the only out made between the two, when Williamson struck out swinging on a nice slider away and out of the zone from Nick Routt.
Just before that strikeout, Parker hit a big blow, blasting a two-run home run the other way to put the Giants ahead 8-4. Both players had their last plate appearances of the day in the sixth inning, with each taking a walk. For Parker, it was his second walk of the day and third of the Spring in seven plate appearances. Both were pulled before they had a chance to take the field defensively in the bottom of the sixth.
Williamson also made a strong defensive play in the outfield, sliding to grab a ball slicing away from him in left and taking extra-bases away from Schebler. He made a habit of making extremely difficult defensive plays last season when he had a chance to play regularly in June and July.
It’s only February 26th, and there’s still 30-plus games left in Spring Training. Both Williamson and Parker will have a ton of plate appearances and chances in the outfield, and will need to make the most of every one of them to earn that starter’s job in left field on opening day. If Sunday’s game is any indication of how things will go from here on out, the decision will not be an easy one for manager Bruce Bochy.
Williamson and Parker are similar players. They are both big, strong guys that look like tight ends rather than baseball players, and they have the power to match. Both strike out their fair share (although it has been much more of a problem for Parker), but make up for it by getting on base and leaving the yard. The difference between the two could come down to defense. Williamson was the Giants’ highest-rated defensive outfielder last season, and his catch in left on Sunday backed that up.
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There’s no telling how this competition will turn out just yet, but it should be very fun to watch.