SF Giants injury notes: Austin Slater, Thomas Szapucki, and Ronald Guzmán

The SF Giants are dealing with some injuries as spring training winds down. Many are not expected to be significant, but at least one outfielder is expected to miss the first half of the season. That said, the Giants have recent updates on Austin Slater (calf), Thomas Szapucki (arm), and Ronald Guzmán (pronator strain)

SF Giants injury notes: Austin Slater, Thomas Szapucki, and Ronald Guzmán

Perhaps, the most immediately concerning is the injury to Slater given his expected role with the team. The six-year veteran dealt with an elbow ailment earlier in the spring and was beginning to get back into game action before sustaining a calf injury.

The Giants confirmed that Slater would be receiving an MRI on Friday. The injury could be nothing, but the fact that he is getting an MRI with two weeks to go in camp could put his Opening Day status in doubt.

The right-handed bat has tallied just 11 sporadic at-bats in the Cactus League. He is not the type of player who needs a lot of game repetitions to get ready for the season, but the Giants will need to see him on the field before the year begins.

It would be a tough loss if Slater opens the year on the injured list. The Giants penciled him in as the backup center fielder to Mike Yastrzemski and potential leadoff hitter against left-handed pitching. Without him, San Francisco does not have another obvious center fielder on the 40-man roster outside of Yastrzemski. Though, they are experimenting with one prospect.

Thomas Szapucki threw just 0.1 innings this spring before dealing with arm discomfort. The Giants are labeling it as left arm neuropathy and he is getting a second opinion on how to treat the injury. The left-handed hurler was fantastic for the Giants down the stretch in 2022 as he posted a 1.98 ERA across 13.2 frames following a midseason trade from the New York Mets.

The best news on the injury front came from Ronald Guzmán. The two-way player is in camp primarily as a pitcher and was making a solid first impression on the mound before sustaining an arm injury in the middle of a pitch.

Those types of injuries can be devastating, but the Giants confirmed that it was a pronator strain. He is expected to be on the shelf for 6 - 8 weeks, but that is not bad considering how it initially looked.

The lefty pitcher has been able to throw in the mid-90's with a good slider. He has racked up five strikeouts in 3.1 innings in his first true stint on the mound.

Update: The Giants confirmed on Saturday that Slater has a strianed hamstring, which could put his Opening Day status in doubt.