SF Giants: Breaking down the team’s 30-man roster

We take a look at the SF Giants’ officially-released Opening Day 30-man roster.

The SF Giants‘ 2020 season is finally here. With their initial four-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers set to open up their season, the Giants released their original 30-man roster ahead of the season’s start on Thursday.

The Giants opted to carry 16 pitchers on their roster as opposed to only 14 batters. One has to think that upon the returns of guys like Brandon Belt and Evan Longoria that that could be set to change.

Nonetheless, the two veteran corner infielders were left off the roster and will start the year on the Injured List. However, they likely won’t be sidelined for too long.

Moreover, 14 of the 30 players on the team made their first Opening Day roster while three players will have the opportunity to make their major-league debuts.

Let’s take a look at each player that made the team.

SF Giants’ starting pitchers

• Johnny Cueto (L)
• Jeff Samardzija (R)
• Kevin Gausman (R)
• Drew Smyly (L)
• Logan Webb (R)
• Tyler Anderson (L)

The Giants haven’t announced who will be starting behind Johnny Cueto at the time of writing. However, the assumption is that Jeff Samardzija will get the call next followed by some combination of Kevin Gausman and Drew Smyly.

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The team won’t need a fifth starter until the start of August, but expect the likes of Logan Webb and Tyler Anderson to be in the mix.

Perhaps the Giants could eventually add veteran Trevor Cahill to the roster as well, but his fingernail injury prevented any chance he had of making the team.

SF Giants’ relief pitchers

• Tyler Rogers (R)
• Tony Watson (L)
• Shaun Anderson (R)
• Caleb Baragar (L)
• Sam Coonrod (R)
• Rico Garcia (R)
• Trevor Gott (R)
• Dany Jimenez (R)
• Conner Menez (L)
• Wandy Peralta (L)

The Giants still haven’t named a closer, and they likely won’t go into the season with one individual player in that role. However, expect to see guys like Tyler Rogers and Tony Watson in that role for the time being.

San Francisco will be looking for new faces to step up in the bullpen with a group of pitchers that hardly resembles the excellent bullpen from a year ago.

Look for Rogers or someone else to stand out and emerge as the team’s true closer at some point.

SF Giants’ catchers

• Rob Brantly (R)
• Tyler Heineman (S)

With Buster Posey opting out of the 2020 season, this is arguably the weakest position on the Giants’ roster. The team will roll with the veteran (but not experienced) duo of Rob Brantly and Tyler Heineman behind the plate.

Despite a strong showing in training camp, Chadwick Tromp didn’t make the roster — perhaps due to a hamstring injury that he’s dealing with.

So at least for the time being, the duo of Brantly and Heineman will have to get it done.

SF Giants’ infielders

• 1B/3B: Pablo Sandoval (S)
• 1B: Darin Ruf (R)
• 2B: Mauricio Dubon (R)
• 3B: Wilmer Flores (R)
• SS: Brandon Crawford (R)
• Utility: Donovan Solano (R)

A mixture of the old and the new, the current Giants’ infield is noticeably without Belt and Longoria. For that reason, veteran Darin Ruf was able to capitalize and will likely see some time at first base in Belt’s absence.

Expect Pablo Sandoval to see plenty of time as well with Wilmer Flores playing the corner infield spots too.

The young Mauricio Dubon will see the majority of playing time at second base while Brandon Crawford will look to bounce back from an awful 2019 season.

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SF Giants’ outfielders

• LF: Alex Dickerson (L)
• CF: Mike Yastrzemski (L)
• RF: Hunter Pence (R)
• OF: Austin Slater (R)
• OF/1B: Joe McCarthy (L)
• OF: Jaylin Davis (R)

The Giants will carry six outfielders to start the year including young prospect Jaylin Davis and minor-league veteran Joe McCarthy who will is set to make his major-league debut.

Hunter Pence will likely play some DH while Mike Yastrzemski and Alex Dickerson will see plenty of time as starters in the outfield.

Austin Slater also makes the team as a reserve outfielder.

SF Giants’ taxi squad

• LHP Andrew Suarez
• OF Steven Duggar

The Giants will carry both Andrew Suarez and Steven Duggar on their taxi squad for the Dodgers series — two guys who have experience with the team.

If they choose to carry a third and final player, it will have to be a catcher. However, they could be looking for a player outside the organization to fill that role.

The Giants’ roster is full of new faces and those new faces should have no trouble receiving opportunities at the big-league level.