SF Giants now have a very tough choice when Heliot Ramos returns from IL

While SF Giants outfielder Victor Bericoto seemed like a guy who was just taking up space on the roster as of yesterday morning, he was given an opportunity and took full advantage of it on Wednesday night by hitting a walk-off home run.

Yet, with Heliot Ramos set to return from the IL possibly as soon as this weekend, the Giants now have a really tough choice on who should be sent down to make room for Ramos.

It would be sad to see Bericoto get sent to Triple-A after he just had such an awesome moment in the big leagues. Bericoto now has five hits in 22 at-bats on the season including two home runs. His first homer was the team’s only run in a narrow 1-0 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers so he is almost like the reverse Willy Adames where all his homers come in close games rather than blowouts.

There are two other likely candidates to be sent down if it’s not Bericoto. Jonah Cox hasn’t really played much as of late except for as a pinch runner or defensive replacement. He’s gotten some at-bats the last two games because Luis Arraez got injured but the Giants may decide to get him some more reps in the minors because he’s looked a bit overmatched at the plate when not going up against position players.

Buddy Kennedy is another candidate and based on merit he should probably be sent down since he’s hardly played and it’s hard to even envision a scenario in which he would play unless a guy on the team got hurt.

Sending Kennedy down would remove the one infielder on San Francisco’s bench but since Casey Schmitt is a Swiss Army knife who can play pretty much anywhere on the field that doesn’t really matter as much.

Whoever remains on roster after Ramos returns may see less playing time

Still, even if the Giants kept Bericoto in the big leagues he probably wouldn’t play a whole lot once Ramos returned. When Ramos comes back the most likely outfield configuration will be with Ramos in right field, Schmitt in left, and Jung Hoo Lee in center so the Giants have all of their best bats in the lineup at once.

Barring an injury, Bericoto probably wouldn’t get many opportunities at all. He might be better served getting more regular at-bats down in Triple-A.

It won’t be an easy call, but someone will have to be sent down after Ramos returns and no matter who gets set down it will mean less playing time for whoever remains on the bench.

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