Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
The Giants saw promise and power. Those two “P”s trumped the perfect fit (phit?).
With Chadwick Tromp, San Francisco valued a young, growing catcher whose defensive play and relationships with pitchers stood out, and his bat showed enough to convince the team there is more potential there. Tromp is not a veteran and not a lefty bat, which would be ideal for pairing for Buster Posey, but they shoehorned him onto the 40-man roster anyway.
With Darin Ruf, San Francisco saw a bat that can pulverize lefty pitching. He did not need to start to make his presence known, frequently subbing in for Alex Dickerson later in games to face off against a tough lefty and often winning the battle.
With the National League DH still unknown and the Giants told to plan for it not being adopted again, the bat-first Ruf is a tough fit. Yet, the Giants ultimately decided they wanted to take a chance on a middle-of-the-order threat.
Assembling a team without knowledge of how the everyday lineup can look is challenging, but the Giants are betting on players they like rather than players whose profiles align perfectly with their needs at the moment.
Tromp’s traditional stats — a .213 batting average with four home runs in 64 plate appearances — do not suggest much. But as a 25-year-old breaking through to the majors, he displayed some pop while, as Zaidi mentioned, battling a shoulder injury that cost him the final weeks. The Giants’ president of baseball operations said he has some “untapped offensive potential.”
Out of the batter’s box, Tromp ranked in the 67th percentile in pitch framing, according to Statcast, while showing off a nice arm in throwing out two of six potential base-stealers and became Johnny Cueto’s personal catcher.
“I actually think it’s a little bit of a disservice to him to focus too much on [the pitch framing]” Zaidi said last week of Tromp, who was non-tendered then given a major league deal days later. “Because he did a really nice job not just with the receiving but with game management, game calling, developed really good relationships with our staff.”
There are still lefty-hitting, free-agent catchers who may intrigue, such as Jason Castro and Tony Wolters, and Zaidi acknowledged Tromp is a “strong candidate” but not a shoo-in for the backup job. He can always be stored in Triple-A, which would push Joey Bart to Double-A, if a veteran is brought in.
The Giants stayed with the veteran they know in deciding to tender Ruf a contract at $1.275 million for next season. Zaidi first acquired Ruf with the Dodgers before the left fielder/first baseman played in South Korea, and periodically checked on whether Ruf wanted to try to return to the majors as Ruf pounded KBO pitching. Once Ruf decided to give major league ball another try, Zaidi didn’t let him go.
Ruf plays defense that generously can be referred to as passable and will be 35 in July, an odd union for a team that is on the upswing but still rebuilding. But in limited time — just 100 plate appearances — the former Phillie posted a .370 on-base percentage with five homers and six doubles. He only played four games at first base because Brandon Belt re-emerged as a force against all pitchers, but instead paired with Dickerson to form an excellent left-field duo.
Ruf had been a sensation in spring training 1.0 and never stopped hitting, which the Giants couldn’t ignore. You jam a circle into a square if the circle can hit.
“We have some depth in the outfield,” Zaidi said, with the club possessing five outfielders who would sensibly be on the Opening Day roster and could add another. “It’s not an obvious positional fit right now. Just with the offensive production that he provided us, we felt it was an important thing to keep him around.”