The Giants introduced they’ve chosen outfielder Grant McCray onto the most important league roster. San Francisco optioned Marco Luciano again to Triple-A Sacramento in a corresponding transfer. The Giants already had a gap on the 40-man roster.
They’ll use it to take their first have a look at McCray, whom they drafted out of a Florida highschool in 2019. The previous third-round choose is beginning in middle discipline tonight towards Braves righty Grant Holmes. McCray can play all three outfield positions and has spent the overwhelming majority of his minor league time up the center.
That defensive acumen is McCray’s greatest enchantment. Prospect evaluators credit score him with plus or higher pace and a very good arm. He has the instruments to be a plus defender in middle discipline. Outfield protection has been a difficulty for the Giants for just a few seasons. That’s significantly true in middle, the place Heliot Ramos has been the starter currently. Ramos has had a breakout yr offensively however is clearly stretched taking part in up the center. Most scouting reviews have lengthy pegged him as a nook outfield match. Each Defensive Runs Saved and Statcast’s Outs Above Common have graded him harshly in his 493 innings of middle discipline work this yr.
Ramos strikes to left discipline tonight, pushing Michael Conforto to designated hitter. If McCray is up as an on a regular basis middle fielder, that’ll most likely have the most important affect on Jerar Encarnacion’s taking part in time. The Giants have given him 5 begins apiece at DH and within the nook outfield since they chose his contract on August 2. He’s hitting .237/.293/.395 over 41 plate appearances. McCray taking part in middle discipline would go away the nook outfield/designated hitter roles to some mixture of Ramos, Conforto and Mike Yastrzemski on most days.
The long-term viability of that plan most likely is determined by how nicely McCray acclimates to large league pitching. Scouting reviews at Baseball America and FanGraphs credit score him with nascent uncooked energy however have by no means been bullish on his pure hitting capacity. McCray has turned in first rate outcomes between the highest two ranges of the minors this yr, combining to hit .242/.330/.446 in 97 video games. He has 12 homers, seven triples and 26 doubles by 421 plate appearances.
McCray is drawing walks at a robust 10.7% clip however has fanned in practically 29% of his journeys. Strikeouts have been an issue all through his minor league tenure. It’ll be a problem for him to make contact in his first have a look at large league pitching, however his mixture of energy and athleticism current some upside if he can put the ball in play considerably frequently.
Strikeouts have additionally been a query for Luciano, who has lengthy been one of many Giants’ high prospects. San Francisco initially deliberate to offer him on a regular basis run at designated hitter after the Jorge Soler deadline commerce. They backed off on that pretty rapidly, maybe due to trepidation about his elevated strikeout tallies within the higher minors and his restricted look (31 video games over two seasons) towards MLB pitching. Luciano scuffled defensively at shortstop and has but to actually discover a place on the MLB degree. He’s nonetheless simply 22, so the Giants will get him constant reps in Triple-A to proceed his improvement on each side of the ball.
The Giants have dropped three straight to fall again to .500, although they’re solely 3.5 video games behind Atlanta within the Wild Card race. They’re taking part in the Braves tonight and tomorrow in what might be pivotal video games.