San Francisco Giants Notes 3/31: Team Heads Home, Roster Battles Continue

The San Francisco Giants were back home to start the final series of Spring Training with the Oakland A’s, beating them 3-0 at AT&T Park.

Chris Marrero has done everything he could possibly do so far this spring in an effort to crack the Giants’ opening day roster, and he kept making his case in his first game at AT&T Park on Thursday. In the Bay Bridge series opener, Marrero was the starter out in left field with lefty Sean Manaea on the mound for Oakland.

He’s not exactly a Gold Glover in the outfield, but he looked like a player that could absolutely get some time in the outfield, especially considering some of the other players that have taken Barry Bonds‘ former spot in recent years. He recovered after a rough first step on a flyball in front of him to make a nice sliding catch just above the grass, and played a double off the wall extremely well to keep a runner at third base.

The team hasn’t necessarily gone after the greatest defensive left fielders recently, including Nori Aoki and Michael Morse, but were able to live with it because of the offensive production they got from those players. If Marrero’s bat plays anywhere near as well as it has throughout the past month-plus, they can live with his defense as well whenever they decide to stick him out there.

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But the bat is what has caught everyone’s attention this spring, and he was still swinging the big stick in San Francisco. In the second inning, Marrero missed a solo home run by a few feet, getting out in front of an offering from Manaea and pulling it foul just in front of the fair pole. He struck out later in the at-bat, but made it for it by breaking up the A’s combined perfect game in the fifth inning. He took what John Axford gave him, stroking an outside fastball down the right field line for a double, the Giants’ first hit and baserunner of the evening.

Marrero is looking more and more like a lock make the opening day roster after his incredible spring. Hitting seven home runs (eight if you count the “unofficial” dinger against Puerto Rico) will do that for a guy.

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Cory Gearrin is another guy fighting for a job, and with some other guys having nice Cactus League seasons, his job is anything but secure. Ken Rosenthal reported that Neil Ramirez asked for his release if the Giants don’t put him on the active roster very soon, and Gearrin would seem like the most likely guy to lose a spot in Ramirez’s favor. Gearrin did his best on Thursday to make management think twice about parting ways.

Gearrin was first on the bump after Johnny Cueto‘s night was finished, and he looked like the Gearrin that dominated opposing hitters in the first half of the 2016 season. He allowed a baserunner on a rare Brandon Crawford error, but he was jamming hitters all inning long and got two groundballs outs and a strikeout. He even retired both left-handed hitters he faced, which has been something of a problem through his entire career.

The sidewinding righty got off to a slow start this spring and missed a couple weeks with a cracked fingernail and his pitching hand, but has been just about perfect in his three most recent outings (the lone exception being the error). As he continues to fight for a spot in the bullpen, his recent dominance could make him a valuable asset against right-handed hitters.

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George Kontos has been a strikeout machine all spring, and was back at it again in his first taste of AT&T Park action this year. He entered his latest outing with 15 punchouts in 10 innings, and proceeded to strike out the side in order. Kontos cut straight through the top of the A’s lineup, setting down Rajai Davis, Matt Joyce, and Ryon Healy.

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Kontos hasn’t struck out more than a batter per inning since 2012, his first season with the Giants, when he tallied 44 strikeouts in 43.2 innings pitched. His 18 strikeouts in 11 innings this spring totals out to 14.7 per nine innings.

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