SF Giants: Second Round of Roster Cuts Announced

The SF Giants announced a series of roster cuts on Saturday as the Opening Day roster is beginning to take shape.

According to Mark Sanchez of KNBR, the SF Giants optioned one player and reassigned four more, including top outfield prospect Heliot Ramos.

Second round of roster cuts announced for SF Giants

In addition to Ramos, Jason Krizan, Sam Long, and Anthony Banda were reassigned. Furthermore, Steven Duggar was optioned. The outcome is the same for all five players, but procedurally, the process is different for Duggar since he is already on the 40-man roster.

Ramos really performed well in camp. The outfield prospect slashed .387/.406/.710 with three home runs and six RBI. Despite his production, Ramos faced long odds in making the Opening Day roster. After all, he has collected just 106 plate appearances above Single-A and at 21 years of age, he likely needs more seasoning.

Fellow outfielder Steven Duggar will not be making the Opening Day roster as well after a strong camp showing. The left-handed bat has slashed .269/441/.538 with two home runs and six RBI in 26 at-bats. This includes eight walks, so Duggar was seeing the ball well in the Cactus League.

The demotion is a tough blow to the 27-year-old and it could be a sign of how the organization views him. The Giants will employ an outfield mix of Mike Yastrzemski, Alex Dickerson, Austin Slater, Mauricio Dubon, and Darin Ruf. Plus, they acquired LaMonte Wade Jr. to fill a similar role as Duggar.

Krizan and Long had made a good first impression with the organization. Krizan posted an .878 OPS with two home runs and five RBI in 32 at-bats while playing all around the field. The left-handed bat was one of the surprise performers in camp.

On the other hand, Long’s stats do not jump off of the page but he pitched well in bullpens that caught the attention of the coaching staff as well as Buster Posey. In three appearances, the southpaw yielded four earned runs on four hits, two walks, and four strikeouts across 3.1 frames.

Banda is the last of the cuts. He struggled in camp as he allowed seven earned runs across 4.2 innings. The former Tampa Bay Rays prospect will likely begin the year working out of the rotation in Triple-A.

42 players remain in camp with less than two weeks left to whittle that list down to 26 players as the Giants are set to face off against the Seattle Mariners on April 1.