San Francisco Giants: Breaking down new outfielder Aaron Altherr

The San Francisco Giants continued to scour the scrap heap in search of extra talent with their recent waiver claim of former Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Aaron Altherr.

The revolving door that is the San Francisco Giants outfield continued on Saturday as the team officially claimed former Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Aaron Altherr off waivers.

Although not officially on the active roster yet, Altherr is expected to join the team ahead of their upcoming series against the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday. With the way that the Giants outfield has worked out this season, they need all the help they could get.

Altherr is set to become the 11th outfielder to spend time with the active roster in 2019 already tying their total from last season — and May isn’t even halfway over. In fact, out of the five outfielders that will be on the roster once Altherr is recalled, only one of them will have been on the Opening Day roster, that being right fielder Steven Duggar.

That said, the Giants outfield alignment should remain relatively the same even after Altherr joins the team. Duggar should remain the starting right fielder with Kevin Pillar continuing to man center. Manager Bruce Bochy has even stated that the team’s recent acquisition shouldn’t affect the playing time of the recently recalled Mac Williamson.

If anything, the Giants are taking a chance on Altherr’s potential and positional versatility while he serves as the team’s primary fourth outfielder for the time being. After all, Altherr was, at one point, one of the better rising stars in the entire MLB.

Originally a ninth-round draft pick way back in 2009, the German-born outfielder didn’t find his way on to a major-league roster until 2014 and it really wasn’t until 2017 that he began to truly emerge as a player. Altherr posted 19 home runs, 65 RBI, and a war of 1.6 while slashing .272/.340/.516 during his breakout campaign.

Unfortunately, his success would be shortlived as Altherr would find himself back in the minor leagues midway through last season and finished the year with just a .181 batting average through over 100 games played. After a 2-for-30 start to this season, the Phillies decided to DFA the once promising young outfielder.

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Still at just 28-years-old, Altherr could have some potential left untapped and it’s clear that he’s always had the physical abilities. Altherr has shown the potential to hit for power smashing 19 in just 372 at-bats back in 2017. Moreover, Altherr has experience playing all three outfield positions and provides more offensive potential than someone like the recently released Gerardo Parra.

At the very least, Altherr should bring more positional flexibility than the team’s other reserve outfielder Tyler Austin. Austin strictly plays the corner outfield positions as well as first base — and it’s not as if he plays those positions particularly well either.

This is yet another instance of a low-risk move that likely won’t pay off, but it’s certainly worth a shot. After all, the Giants have made it clear that they have been very fond of returning to the waiver wire time after time this season.

Perhaps Altherr will stick around and surprise some folks. Or perhaps he will be just another number in the growing list of failed Giants outfielder projects.

Only time will tell.