SAN FRANCISCO — Billy Hamilton does everything in a hurry on the baseball field.
With a week until the season-opener, Hamilton may try to prove to the Giants coaching staff he can get ready in a hurry, too.
The former Cincinnati Reds center fielder signed with the Giants as a minor league free agent during the offseason and emerged as a potential role player during spring training, but hasn’t been with the team since the club began summer workouts at Oracle Park.
During an intrasquad scrimmage Thursday, Hamilton walked in from the center field bullpen in street clothes and was greeted with applause by teammates in the third base dugout.
Hamilton is still on the Giants’ 10-day injured list due to undisclosed “medical reasons,” but his arrival Thursday indicated he could reenter the mix for a roster spot.
First-year Giants manager Gabe Kapler indicated fans shouldn’t expect to see Hamilton on the field next Thursday at Dodger Stadium.
“I don’t see that as a realistic expectation right now,” Kapler said. “I think one of the things that we know is that building up legs are just as important as building up arm strength and just as important building up number of swings. Anything that you do explosive on a baseball field, if you don’t have the right build-up and the ramp-up, you put your body at risk.”
With MLB rosters expanding to 30 players for the first two weeks of the 2020 season, teams will have the luxury of carrying extra players who can affect the outcome of games in specific ways.
Some clubs will opt to carry another all-or-nothing power-hitter while others will add a sixth or seventh starting pitcher to keep their top arms fresh at the beginning of the summer. A few clubs might do both.
If the Giants want to take advantage of the opportunity, they could keep Hamilton on their Opening Day roster and use the speedy center fielder as a late-game pinch-runner of defensive replacement if he shows he’s ready.
It might take Hamilton a few weeks to get his timing down at the plate, but the Giants don’t need him to stand in the batter’s box to make an impact.
In each of the last three season’s Hamilton’s sprint speed has ranked in the 97th percentile or above according to Statcast, making him one of the fastest players in all of baseball. The lightning-quick outfielder has never posted an OPS+ higher than 81 (league average is 100), but he’s carved out a seven-year MLB career anyway thanks to his tremendous range in center field and elite baserunning abilities.
Even if Hamilton isn’t available the first week of the season, his presence could change the way Kapler and Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi view the outfield depth chart. Less experienced players such as Steven Duggar, Jaylin Davis and Austin Slater are all vying for jobs, but one or two could be boxed out of a role early in the season if the front office thinks Hamilton can serve as a late-game weapon.
Need a run in the eighth inning? Sub in Hamilton. Want to put your best defenders in the game to protect a ninth-inning lead? Send Hamilton to center and shift Mauricio Dubón and Mike Yastrzemski around the diamond.
The possibilities are intriguing, particularly because the Giants don’t need to worry about Hamilton taking at-bats away from most of the younger outfielders they want to evaluate.
Kapler can pick and choose spots to deploy Hamilton and let his speed do the rest. The only question is whether the Giants will feel comfortable carrying a player who has just seven days to get in shape.
“We’ll be as patient as we need to be with Billy,” Kapler said.
Right-handed pitcher Luís Madero, who tested positive for COVID-19, also reported to camp Thursday after passing his physical. Madero is not expected to be a candidate for the Opening Day roster, but the Giants like the 23-year-old right-hander’s potential and it’s possible he could emerge as a bullpen option late in the season.
Evan Longoria dealing with oblique strain
Third baseman Evan Longoria, who could be the lone everyday player on the Giants’ roster, has missed the team’s past two intrasquad scrimmages with a moderate right oblique strain and his status for Opening Day is now in jeopardy.
Kapler said the Giants will go “day-by-day” with Longoria and check in on his progress regularly, but the team is now uncertain as to whether he or first baseman Brandon Belt (right heel issue) will be ready for the season-opener.
With catcher Buster Posey electing to sit out the season, the Giants could suddenly be short on recognizable names and more importantly, middle-of-the-order bats.
Kapler said Belt took groundballs on the field Thursday and ran inside at Oracle Park, but didn’t provide a timeline for when he expects either the team’s first baseman or third baseman to participate in another intrasquad game.
If Longoria isn’t on the Opening Day roster, Wilmer Flores, Yolmer Sánchez, Donovan Solano and Pablo Sandoval all have experience at third base.
