San Francisco Giants: Marrero Homers Again, Giants Drop Both Split Squad Games

The San Francisco Giants spring training this year was meant to have a load of competition. On addition, and non-roster invite, is ramping up that competition in Arizona.

The San Francisco Giants signed Chris Marrero this offseason to help boost the competition in spring training. A mix of minor leaguers on the cusp of the big leagues, and aging vets have produced a big competition for bench roles this spring. Today, the Giants may have lost both games. Despite that, they might have found an early winner in Marrero.

Marrero was in Pawtucket last year, with the Boston Red Sox AAA affiliate. Marrero has bounced around a lot of places, including the Nationals, Orioles, and White Sox organizations. After breaking out and hitting .284 with an .838 OPS and 23 homers in 2016, the Giants seemed smart to grab Marrero. Today, he hit his second home-run of the spring, bringing his early statistical returns to 7 RBI on 4 hits including two home-runs. Normally we’ve been doing some positives and negatives on each game. We’re still doing that, but just for mental records, count Chris Marrero as a positive today.

Positives

Tyler Beede (Again)

Beede is off to a fantastic start this spring, and might just be busting down Bochy’s door with the heel of his boot. Just take a second and imagine that. Wow. Crazy stuff right there. Ok. In all seriousness, Beede is essentially doing that with his play. He has yet to allow a run. He does only have one strikeout. He also has two walks and four hits against him in four innings. However, he’s kept the opposing team off the scoreboard, which is something Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner can’t say this spring. Will he win the fifth starter spot? Probably not. At the moment, Ty Blach seems to be the frontrunner. But if injuries happen, or Blach falls to the earth and Cain can’t get it together, Beede will be ready to kick the door in again.

Jarrett Parker (Again)

Last night he drove in 4 RBI against the Dodgers. Today he added another RBI. Parker has been hitting really well at the plate this spring, and with his performances so far, seems to have already ended the Left Field debate. Maybe Giants fans and writers spent too much time this offseason assuming that Williamson would win the battle, that he just went to work the entire time. Parker has been really good so far.

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Negatives

Six Errors in the White Sox Game

The San Francisco Giants were the best defensive team in baseball last season. Yes, the Cubs defense was good as well. A better word to describe that defense was spectacular. They made some crazy plays, but missed a lot of routine ones. The Giants were just all around good, and consistent. Today, that wasn’t the case. Three players combined for six errors in the other split squad game against the White Sox today. Nick Hundley had two, C.J. Hinojosa had two, and Steven Duggar had two. That’s pretty bad and uncharacteristic. Really, only one guy of those three will be on the roster, and that’s Mr. Hundley. He had a few bad throws, which might just vault Trevor Brown back into the convo. Today, he showed some much improved plate defense, throwing out three Angels’ would be base-stealers today. I don’t think Brown will end up beating out Hundley, but it could be something to watch for.

Next: Ty Blach Challenging Cain

The next cactus league game for the San Francisco Giants is going to be tomorrow against the Oakland A’s. First pitch is 12:10 PT