The SF Giants have run out of position players on the 40-man roster

The SF Giants recalled Grant McCray on Friday, with Victor Bericoto landing on the injured list. The move emptied out all of the remaining position players from the 40-man roster to the active roster.

This is a bit of an oddity. Perhaps, it was more common a few years ago, when teams could expand their rosters up to 40 players in September. In those instances, teams would bring up most, if not all, of their pitchers on the 40-man roster to help close out the season. Some position players were not called up, as it was often too many players to manage.

Of course, baseball has adjusted the rules in recent years, where they can expand the rosters to 28 players in September. That gives them some reinforcements, but not quite to the extent that it used to be.

The Giants have five position players on the injured list. Daniel Susac is one of them and is the only one in the middle of a rehab assignment at the moment.

The SF Giants are in an unusual spot with position players on the 40-man roster

The Giants hoped that Matt Chapman could be back before the All-Star break. However, those hopes have been dashed, per Justice delos Santos of The Mercury News.

Grant McCray was the last position player to be recalled from the 40-man roster, and he was promoted due to an emergency. He was also in the middle of a rehab assignment after sustaining a hamate fracture.

The fact that the Giants have run out of position players on the 40-man roster is also a sign that the Sacramento River Cats are running thin on depth. They only have 10 healthy position players on the roster, plus Daniel Susac.

Outside of Susac, the River Cats have run out of catching depth. Thomas Gavello and Zach Morgan have handled those duties over the past week.

McCray joins the club for the first time this year. Before the injury, it was apparent that he had fallen in the team's outfield depth chart. The Giants looked at every other alternative before giving the speedy outfielder a shot, and this only came as an injury replacement.

The left-handed bat was hitting .249/.371/.398 (105 wRC+) with five home runs, 30 RBI, and 41 runs in 221 plate appearances with Sacramento. This includes a 21.8 percent strikeout rate. He had struggled with high strikeout rates over the past couple of seasons at Triple-A, but he has done a nice job of bringing that number down. That said, the improvement in his strikeout rate has seemingly come at the cost of his power.

There has not been a notable change in McCray's zone contact, but he was making contact on chase pitches at 56.3 percent, compared to 45.3 percent just last season. Those are pitches where it is often better for the hitters to swing and miss.

Nevertheless, McCray brings a lot of tools to the table, including above-average defense and speed. His stint with the Giants might be brief, but he will get a few games to show what he can do.

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