San Francisco Giants Full 2017 Season Preview, and Predictions
The Infield, and Catchers
The Giants break camp with 5/6 infielders having played for the Giants in the regular season before. There are only two additions, if you include the catchers, to this years’ team. We’ll lay it out right here:
- Brandon Belt, 1B
- Joe Panik, 2B
- Brandon Crawford, SS
- Eduardo Nuñez, 3B/SS
- Conor Gillaspie, 3B
- Aaron Hill, 3B/2B/SS
That’s it for the infield. Aaron Hill ended up making the roster over Kelby Tomlinson and Jimmy Rollins. Rollins was pretty awful at the plate during the spring, and if it were just him and Kelby in the major league camp, Kelby would’ve made the team. Kelby will get a lot of time in AAA, and it would be nice for him to get a lot of time at shortstop. His bat isn’t really going to be in question, as he has a .294 average in 300 plate appearances so far. He is really only limited to playing second at the moment, so more time at short helps him as a really good back-up option in the future.
As for the catchers, it’s pretty straightforward.
The addition of Nick Hundley allows the Giants to be comfortable with giving Buster days off. Hundley is a much better hitter than Brown, provides ample years of experience behind the dish at the big league level. It’s an overall upgrade behind Buster, which allows them more flexibility to either rest, or put Posey at first.
The Giants’ infield is a little deeper, and more experienced. It’s a good thing to have that, instead of relying on a lot of guys nobody has heard of to fill gaps when injuries take place. That bodes well for the 2017 season.