SAN FRANCISCO – Prior to the finale of the San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies four-game series, Giants manager Bruce Bochy discussed the decision to call up catcher Aramis Garcia, as well as providing an update on the health of infielder/outfielder Tyler Austin.
Garcia is on the Giants taxi squad for the time being and can serve as an extra bat off the bench if the Giants need it.
“Yea he’s here, he’s on the taxi squad,” Bochy said. “He’ll give us coverage in case we have to place Tyler Austin on the disabled list. We’ll have something here pretty soon on that. He did play catch, he’s feeling a lot better. He just has to go in there and take some swings. We’ll see how he comes out of that and then we’ll know.”
The Giants acquired Austin from the Twins early last week. Prior to Saturday’s game, Austin was unavailable due to a sore elbow he sustained getting work in the outfield. Bochy provided an update on Austin’s MRI.
“Fairly clean, really clean I guess I should say, so that was good news,” Bochy said. “If it showed anything, we would have placed him on the disabled list. There’s a little bit of discomfort he experienced after making some throws from the outfield.”
Austin has very little experience in the outfield. Playing only thirteen career games in the outfield, the Giants are working to get him some immediate practice.
“Yeah, he was doing some early work and made a few throws to second and home, which is a normal routine. Those guys in the outfield throw a lot to the bases and we’re trying to get him ready to play some left field for us.
There’s a chance Austin could avoid landing on the Injured List, but the Giants will have to monitor him closely over the next two days.
“We’ll let this calm down and if he’s not placed on the injured list, then that means he’s available to pinch-hit, he’ll be available to go to first base,” Bochy said. “With the day off, we can hopefully start resuming some work in the outfield.”
With the Giants recent success offensively, it’s important that their best hitters are available heading into a difficult road trip through Washington, Pittsburgh, and Toronto. In his first week with the Giants, Austin has been on base five times in 11 plate appearances, while acting as a right-handed power threat in the Giants lineup.