Pair of SF Giants postseason heroes to appear as guest instructors in spring training

SF Giants spring training will have plenty of former players with a postseason pedigree on their résumé. Buster Posey told Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic that Marco Scutaro and Yusmeiro Petit will join that list as guest instructors this year.

Pair of SF Giants postseason heroes to appear as guest instructors in spring training

Since Posey took over as president of baseball operations, it was believed that he would bring back players from the championship era to help steer the organization back in the right direction. He is staying true to the first part of that so far by bringing back two players who probably go against the grain in today's game.

Scutaro came over to the Giants in a midseason trade that sent Charlie Culberson to the Colorado Rockies in 2012. He was on the older side at the time of the trade but had plenty left in the tank. The right-handed bat went on a tear following the deal, posting an .859 OPS in 268 regular-season plate appearances.

The 13-year veteran played a key role in the Giants' championship run that season as he tallied 14 hits in 28 at-bats while taking home the NLCS MVP honors against the St. Louis Cardinals. He also laced a single to center field to plate Ryan Theriot as the series-clinching run in Game 4 of the World Series against the Detroit Tigers.

Scutaro's skill set is just not something you see much of in today's game. He had excellent bat-to-ball skills and was a clutch situational hitter. The Giants employed a move-the-line offense during that time and the veteran hitter was very much a microcosm of that approach.

The younger players could learn a lot from Scutaro such as how to stay in the majors as a utility player and what clicked for him later in his career to have some of his best years. He retired after the 2014 season as he was unable to return from a back injury.

On the other hand, Yusmeiro Petit has quite a few memorable stretches with the Giants. The first one that comes to mind is when he pitched six shutout innings against the Washington Nationals in Game 2 of the 2014 NLDS. The Giants went on to win that game thanks to a home run by Brandon Belt in the 18th inning.

Petit also had a stretch where he retired 46 straight batters, which remains an MLB record. He also threw 8.2 perfect innings before allowing a hit to Eric Chavez against the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2013.

Petit is very much a throwback pitcher with a fastball that did not often exceed 90 MPH. Despite this, he knew how to avoid mistakes and miss the barrel of the bat. He knew how to pitch and the Giants hope that he can teach some of that to their younger pitchers. It might be a minor role but having Scutaro and Petit in camp will be a positive experience.