Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
It is not every day a catcher lays down a bunt trying to reach first. It is less frequent two catchers try three times in a four-inning scrimmage.
The front-runners for the Giants’ catching job after Buster Posey stepped away are not known for big bats, though their baseball IQs seem formidable.
First it was Tyler Heineman, a switch-hitter batting lefty, who watched the Giants’ defense shift, leaving no ordinary third baseman in Tuesday’s intrasquad matchup. Not fleet of foot, Heineman bunted too softly, leaving Johnny Cueto an opportunity to throw him out — but Cueto fell, and Heineman cruised through first.
His main competition, Rob Brantly, wanted to hold serve. The lefty hitter saw no one to his left, and so he tried to emulate Heineman twice. Both bunts went foul, and so he swung away and laced a single.
Neither was told to bunt, Gabe Kapler said. Both just saw a way to reach base and pounced.
“I thought the Brantly play in particular was a really strong, strategic play,” the manager said over Zoom. “One thing that these guys know is they’re not getting judged on their batting average. This is not about boosting their training-camp numbers. … It shows their savviness and it shows their competitiveness.”
Kapler commended Brantly for being willing to try it a second time and suggested he wouldn’t have taken issue with a third try.
Brantly “can’t allow the opponent to shift on him,” Kapler said of a now-31-year-old (happy birthday!) who’s played 126 big-league games since 2012. “He has to take advantage of those situations so he can survive at the major league level.”
Heineman, a 29-year-old with five major league games of experience, allowed his brain to compensate for his legs on the base paths, too. After he bunted his way on, he reached second as he watched the infield shift for Brantly. A bit delayed, he took off for third when he saw it was uncovered. He beat the throw against a scrambling defense.
“Heineman’s baserunning has been tremendous. And that’s been a group effort,” Kapler said. “[Quality-assurance coach] Nick Ortiz is involved in that delayed-steal play. [Assistant coach] Alyssa [Nakken] is, [baserunning coach] Antoan [Richardson] is, and Tyler himself.”
Chadwick Tromp, a wild card in the catching competition whose bat has been loud thus far, looked comfortable in catching Cueto and Wandy Peralta.
Joey Bart, meanwhile, went 1-for-2, swatting a single to right a few pitches after he nearly homered to right. The Giants continue to say they believe he needs more development before he debuts.
The Giants added outfielder Jose Siri to their pool before the scrimmage, the outfielder representing the 59th player in the mix. It does not sound as if he’s a competitor to be on the 30-man roster next week, but the Giants will want to get a closer look at a player whom hitting coach Donnie Ecker coached with Cincinnati.
Kapler described Siri, who turns 25 this month, as a “high-ceiling” former prospect “with tools and athleticism and power.”
Siri is on the 40-man roster, which will be dissected in the next week. The Giants still have many pool members not on the 40-man, including any catcher, Pablo Sandoval, Yolmer Sanchez, Trevor Cahill and Darin Ruf.