SF Giants drop their first lineup of spring training leaning on young players

The SF Giants kick off their spring training play on February 22nd against the Texas Rangers. After months and months without Giants baseball, it will be great to see the team get some action. The lineup for the game has already been dropped.

Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle shared the lineup on social media. Here is how it looks:

SF Giants drop first lineup of spring training

The lineup definitely leans heavy on younger players which makes a good deal of sense. There is no need to rush veteran players into games especially when you are trying to prevent injuries and make sure that your team is in as strong of a position as possible heading into the regular season.

Jung Hoo Lee will be playing in his first game since crashing into Oracle Park's center field fence last May. All reports suggest he is one hundred percent healthy so it will be great to see him back out there doing his thing.

It will be interesting to get out first look at Marco Luciano in the outfield. As recently as last season he was thought of as a shortstop and infielder, but his poor fielding has forced the Giants to reevaluate things. He is going to see a lot of action at the corner outfield spots in spring training as he attempts to rebound from his rough 2024 season.

It will also be interesting to see players like Jake Lamb and Osleivis Basabe make their debut in the orange and black. Both players have an outside shot of making the Opening Day roster, but if they get hot with the bat they could force the Giants to make a tough decision.

Casey Schmitt and Brett Wisely are going to be competing all spring for the backup infielder role, so it would not be surprising to see them both get a lot of action in Cactus League play. Both can play second, third, and shortstop so it make simply come down to who does better at the plate.

It had already been announced that pitcher Landen Roupp would take the ball first for the Giants. He will be competing for a rotation spot and a roster spot so a good first impression could be a big step towards making the team.

Some familiar position players who are available and could come in to relieve the starters are top prospect Bryce Eldridge, speedy outfielder Grant McCray, under the radar outfielder Wade Meckler, and infielder David Villar who may be making his last stand this spring.

Some other pitchers we could potentially see in the game are the lefty Raymond Burgos, Kai-Wei Teng who saw some limited action last season, and the hard-throwing Cole Waites.

The first game of spring always takes on that added significance because it's the first time we get to check box scores and see highlights since last September. It will be great to see the G-men get back to playing some baseball tomorrow and it will be fascinating to see how everyone fares in their first live game action of spring training.

The game will not be televised but it will be available on the radio on KNBR 680.