Why Giants won’t rush Haniger, Slater despite issues vs. LHP originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
New York Mets starter David Peterson enters Saturday’s game with a 6.10 ERA, and the advanced metrics don’t paint a rosier picture. But when facing the Giants right now, the only fact that really matters is one that’s been attached to Peterson his whole life. He throws left-handed.
Peterson will be the eighth lefty starter to face the Giants over the last 12 games, and the pitchers have had near-universal success. The Giants have the third-highest OPS in the league against right-handed pitching, but they rank 29th against lefties.
It’s an ongoing problem with a clear solution, but the Giants still aren’t sure when the answers will arrive at Oracle Park. Mitch Haniger and Austin Slater will continue their rehab assignments with Triple-A Sacramento this weekend and manager Gabe Kapler said Saturday morning that there’s no firm timetable for the outfielders to return, although they’re “trending in the right direction.”
Haniger is 3-for-9 with a homer during his rehab from a spring oblique strain. Slater has gotten 15 at-bats and has five hits, including a homer and a double, but Kapler said the bigger issue there is a defensive one.
Slater has played just one game in center field while starting five as a DH. He is on the IL with a hamstring strain, but he also missed time in the spring with elbow soreness. Kapler said Slater’s “legs are fine,” but the Giants are waiting for him to get back to full strength with his throws. When healthy, they expect Slater to platoon with Mike Yastrzemski in center field.
“We push as fast as we can push. We can’t make it happen any faster than we can make it happen,” Kapler said. “We’re doing the best we can. We’d love to see these guys playing here soon.”
At 6-13, it is hard to be patient right now, but the staff and the two rehabbing players are trying to take a long view. Asked how they’re different from Darin Ruf, who got just a handful of at-bats in extended spring training games before joining the heart of the lineup, Kapler pointed out that Haniger and Slater are starters the Giants were counting on for 162 games. They hope Ruf can again play his way into that type of role, but he was brought in recently as more of a short-term fix, in part because the other two are on the IL.
“As much as we think they can help right now, we need both of those guys for the long haul,” Kapler said of Haniger and Slater. “Mitch is a guy that we expect to be playing every day for us. We talked this offseason about wanting players that could be in the lineup on a daily basis and Mitch is one of those guys, so we want him ready to do that. We don’t want him to come back to the big leagues and not be ready for that, so we’re just going to be as patient as we possibly can under the circumstances.”
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In the meantime, the Giants will continue to patch it together. Ruf is hitting second Saturday, a spot ahead of Michael Conforto, who has finally been cleared to return to the outfield. The Giants also slid Heliot Ramos into center field to get an additional right-handed bat against Peterson.
Sunday’s series finale should be a bit easier to navigate. Right-hander Tylor Megill is on the mound for the Mets and Joc Pederson is expected to return from the IL.
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