San Francisco Giants: Marrero Produces, Melancon Clean, Osich Struggles
In today’s set of Cactus League notes for the San Francisco Giants, Chris Marrero keeps producing, Mark Melancon works quick, and Josh Osich struggles again.
The San Francisco Giants lost for the second straight day in Cactus League play on Tuesday, dropping a 9-5 decision to the San Diego Padres. They held an early 5-2 lead, but the pitching and defense was shoddy the rest of the way as the Padres ended the day with seven unanswered runs. There were three players in particular that grabbed the most attention, for good or bad reasons.
The Giants trailed 2-1 entering the third inning, but Joe Panik hit a one-out single and Brandon Crawford followed with a double to put the two in scoring position. Chris Marrero, the offensive star of the Cactus League opener, received a start at first base hitting cleanup, and took advantage of the opportunity.
Padres’ pitcher Barry Enright brought home a full-count fastball over the plate, and Marrero extended out and drove the ball to deep center field. Marrero missed a home run by a couple feet when the ball crashed about halfway up the wall, but both runs scored to put the Giants ahead 3-2. Marrero only got a single out of the drive as he slipped and fell while rounding first base, and was forced to retreat.
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Marrero, a 2006 first-round pick, has been impressive in the early goings of camp. He collected a pair of hits in last Friday’s opener, driving in four ways along the way. With the Giants down by a run, he hit the walk-off, three-run home run in the ninth inning to beat the Cincinnati Reds. So far, Marrero has driven in six runs in 10 at-bats.
The non-roster invitee has plenty of competition for a job as a pinch hitter and occasional starter, but is off to a good start. Marrero is coming off a strong 2016 season in Triple-A, where he hit .284 and slugged .494 with 30 doubles and 23 home runs for the Pawtucket Red Sox.
Mark Melancon was also in Peoria for Tuesday’s game, and took the mound after Madison Bumgarner started and threw two innings. Melancon pitched the third inning, and retired each of the three batters he faced in order. Luis Sardinas worked the count full before hitting a comebacker to Melancon for the first out. Cory Spangenberg could also watch as Melancon wrapped a cutter around the outside part of the plate for strike three. Yangervis Solarte bounced the first pitch he saw weakly to second baseman Joe Panik.
It was Melancon’s second outing of the spring, and much the same as the first. He has retired all six batters he’s faced thus far, while his strikeout of Spangenberg was his first as a Giant. So far, he’s done what he’s known for, forcing weak contact from hitters and working quickly to get through an inning. The Giants spent a lot of money to bring Melancon to the orange and black, and this is quite a promising start.
On the downside, Josh Osich continues to struggle with his command early on. He began the seventh inning by retiring the first two batters he faced, including a strikeout, but would walk the next two before allowing a double to score a run. Two more runs scored on an error before Osich’s outing was over.
So far in two spring outings, Osich has allowed three walks, four hits, and five runs (three earned runs) in 1.2 innings. That’s a rough start for a player looking to bounce back from a tough 2016 season. Control was Osich’s main issue last season, as he walked 4.7 batters per nine innings and threw less than 60 percent of his pitches for strikes. His .228 opponent batting average was quite respectable, but all the walks really clogged the basepaths and hurt Osich in the long run.
Next: Arroyo Continues to Impress in Cactus League
But as is said over and over again, there’s still a lot of time left in Spring Training. Osich has plenty of time to prove his mettle, but he has to show the ability to command his pitches. He has the potential to be a huge piece of the bullpen, but he has to be able to consistently throw the ball where he wants it and get hitters out. There’s a lot of room for improvement for the lefty.