San Francisco Giants Notes 3/24: Smith, Span, Samardzija, Belt

The San Francisco Giants beat the Colorado Rockies, 6-5, getting big performances from some players who will be key contributors in 2016.

Will Smith’s worst case scenario came to fruition on Friday, as he announced that he will undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the 2017 season. Both doctors that Smith visited advised him that surgery was the best route for him, and Smith agreed. It seemed like he had the option to forego surgery and rehab the elbow, but stayed away from that to avoid missing two seasons in the event that rehab didn’t work.

Smith figured to be a big part of the 2017 bullpen as a late-inning lefty that could get outs from both sides of the plate. Now, the load will fall on other relievers to bridge the gap between starting pitching and closer Mark Melancon. Derek Law and Hunter Strickland already were going to be counted on to get key outs, but may have even more on their plate this year.

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Smith’s absence leaves the team without a top lefty, and puts Steven Okert in the spotlight. The 25-year-old southpaw made his major league debut and pitched well, and has gained even more favor with outstanding outing after outstanding outing this spring. He was back on the mound on Friday, and kept his ERA at a perfect 0.00 with another scoreless inning. He allowed a one-out walk, but worked around it and ended the inning with a strikeout. Okert was already in a prime spot to make the club, but is basically a lock at this point.

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After an extremely slow start to the spring, Giants’ center fielder Denard Span has settled into a groove with the bat. He began the Cactus League slate with one hit in his first 19 at-bats, but has since picked up a hit in six out of seven games, and each of his last five. He hit his first home run on Wednesday, then collected three hits on Friday to pick his average up to .244. Even his outs have been loud in the most recent days. He looks to be moving extremely well out in center field as well, putting a hip surgery that limited his mobility somewhat last season behind him.

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Jeff Samardzija was another player experiencing struggles through the early parts of the spring, but he put together his best start on Friday against the Rockies. He entered the game with an 11.12 ERA so far in Arizona, but threw four shutout innings against Colorado, allowing just a pair of singles while striking out three batters. He lowered his spring ERA all the way down to 8.22 in only 47 pitches, and finished his day by controlling his pitch count out in the bullpen.

Samardzija was working with regular catcher Buster Posey for the first time in a while. Posey returned from helping the United States team winning the WBC, and had one hit in three at-bats, plus a flyout to the wall in center field. The comfort of working with Posey could be just what Samardzija needs to get into a groove heading to the regular season.

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First baseman Brandon Belt was scratched from last night’s lineup so he could play today’s game at Salt River Fields, and it worked well for him. He hit a three-run home run, his third of the spring, in the third inning to put the Giants ahead 4-0.

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Belt does his best work at Salt Rivers Field. According to Alex Pavlovic, Belt is 22-35 (.629) with eight home runs, four doubles, a triple, and 18 RBI at the park.

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