San Francisco Giants Roster Wheel Keeps Turning: Pence to DL, Mac Up

Another day, another San Francsico Giants roster move. The team has placed Hunter Pence on the disabled list with a hamstring strain, and recalled Mac Williamson from Triple-A.

The San Francisco Giants are coming off their first three-game winning streak of the season, beating the Cincinnati Reds three straight over the weekend, but not all the news is good entering another series with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Hunter Pence, who didn’t start any of those three wins, will head to the disabled list because of a strained hamstring.

Pence had appeared in each of the Giants’ first 37 games of the season, 33 as the starting right fielder and four as a pinch-hitter, but missed Saturday and Sunday because of the hamstring. He came off the bench on Friday night as a pinch hitter in the 15th inning, grounding out to the shortstop, and was then held out over the weekend.

His hamstring strain would have limited Pence to pinch hitting duties, so rather than playing with a short outfield, the team opted instead to place him on the disabled list and call up a healthy body. That healthy body comes in the form of Mac Williamson.

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Williamson entered Spring Training this year in competition with Jarrett Parker to be the everyday left fielder, and was having himself a nice exhibition season before a strained quad put him on the shelf and curtailed his efforts. He returned to the field on April 19th as part of a rehab assignment with the San Jose Giants, and moved up to Triple-A with the Sacramento River Cats two games later.

He got off to a slow start in the rehab assignment, but has slowly been piecing together his swing in an effort to be ready for the potential call-up. In his last six Triple-A games, Williamson hit .400 (10-25) with four doubles, two home runs, five runs batted in, and five walks.

The Giants will waste no time getting Williamson some big league at-bats. He is playing right field in Pence’s place on Monday, and hitting eighth in the starting lineup against Dodgers’ starter Brandon McCarthy. Williamson will have a tough task trying to fill Pence’s shoes, particularly defensively in a tricky right field, but he looked quite comfortable playing there in limited time last season.

Pence’s disabled list stint is retroactive to Saturday, May 13th since he appeared in Friday’s game, making him eligible to return as soon as during next week’s four game series with the Chicago Cubs. Pence himself is “optimistic” (but then again, Pence is always optimistic) that he’ll be able to return when eligible, but also noted that this injury is similar to one he suffered last season. In 2016, however, he tried to play through the injury and ended up completely tearing him hamstring. With Pence able to rest and rehab this time around, hopefully the outcome is different.

Next: Giants 3 Up, 3 Down: Winning Streak

Eduardo Nunez is still taking reps in the outfield with Christian Arroyo playing third base, and is back in the outfield on Monday. Justin Ruggiano has shown some pop in his bat since having his contract purchased, picking up five hits in 17 at-bats, including his first Giants’ home run, over his last four games. He figures to be the main backup to the corner outfield spots while getting occasional time in center field if necessary. With the Dodgers throwing out two lefties in the next two games, Ruggiano, a strong right-handed bat, could get some starting nods as well.

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