San Francisco Giants: Third baseman Zach Green to be promoted

The San Francisco Giants are set to promote one of their most productive minor league hitters. Slugger Zach Green will help fill the void left by the Evan Longoria injury.

Shortly after news broke that left-hander Conner Menez would be making his MLB debut on Sunday, another San Francisco Giants prospect earned the call.

With no clear timetable on when Evan Longoria will return from the injured list after being diagnosed with plantar fasciitis in his left foot, the Giants have called on Triple-A standout Zach Green to help provide some depth at the hot corner.

The move was announced on Saturday night, though no official corresponding move has been made. More on that in a bit.

So who is Zach Green?

Marc Delucchi ranked the 25-year-old as the No. 19 prospect in the San Francisco Giants farm system in his midseason top 30 update.

Here’s a snippet from his prospect write-up:

"Staying healthy was the biggest issue for Green during his time in the Philadelphia organization. He’s had surgery on his wrist, elbow, and hip over his career and dealt with a number of other issues.Green’s power has always been his calling card, but questions about contact and defense remain. Still, he’s putting a charge into the juiced Pacific Coast League ball."

That power has indeed been on full display this season, as he’s hitting .302/.402/.698 with 18 doubles and 23 home runs in 264 plate appearances at Triple-A Sacramento.

His platoon splits have been virtually non-existent, which bodes well for his chances of eventually carving out a regular role:

• vs. RHP: 191 PA, .300/.408/.719, 17 HR
• vs. LHP: 73 PA, .308/.384/.646, 6 HR

For now, he’ll presumably split time with Pablo Sandoval until Evan Longoria is ready to return.

Once Longoria returns, he could push Tyler Austin off the roster. Austin has shown some intriguing pop, but he’s hitting a brutal .119/.224/.288 with a 40.3 percent strikeout rate since the beginning of June, and cutting ties as by no means out of the question.

The Giants will also have to decide who gets bumped from the active roster and the 40-man roster to make room for both Menez and Green before Sunday’s game.

Recent waiver claim Joey Rickard could be DFA’d and Ryder Jones could potentially be moved to the 60-day injured list, which would free up two spots on the 40-man.

Left-hander Ty Blach will likely be optioned back to Triple-A to open up one spot on the active roster, but the other decision will be a tough one. Maybe the end of the road for Austin comes even sooner than we proposed earlier.

The San Francisco Giants have played their way into wild-card contention, and they’re hoping these two Triple-A standouts can give them a boost for the stretch run.