Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
There are local ties the Giants could check with to get background on Trevor Hildenberger, who played at Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose and at Cal.
They also just had to ask assistant pitching coach J.P. Martinez and righty reliever Zack Littell, who both overlapped with Hildenberger in Minnesota.
Gabe Kapler said he’s had conversations with both about the newest addition to the organization. The Giants claimed Hildenberger on Tuesday after he had been designated for assignment by the Mets, opening up a spot for him by moving Tommy La Stella to the 60-day injured list.
“Kind of a lower arm slot guy. A guy that has historically had some success and thrown some strikes,” Kapler said before the Giants and Reds played in Cincinnati on Wednesday. “We wanted to see what he had and I’m interested to see how he does for us.”
While it’s still possible there is an attempt to sneak him through waivers, Hildenberger was assigned to Triple-A Sacramento during his final option-able season. Nearly a side-armer, the Mountain View native was excellent in his rookie season of 2017, posting a 3.21 ERA in 42 innings for a team that employed Martinez as a coach and was soon to add Littell to its bullpen.
Hildenberger largely struggled in 2018 and 2019 before not appearing in the majors in the shortened 2020 campaign, then got DFA’d after two appearances with the Mets this year. Each season he has pitched in the majors has seen an uptick of his slider usage — in the limited time with New York, he threw the pitch 36.2 percent of the time — which has been a trend with the organization.
Presuming he stays with the Giants, he becomes an immediate option if pitchers such as Camilo Doval and slider-happy Matt Wisler continue to struggle. The Giants have many intriguing possibilities in Sacramento, including Nick Tropeano and Dominic Leone, but they would give first looks to the players who are already on the 40-man roster.
Kapler indicated the Giants decided on the 60-day IL designation for La Stella because his hamstring strain, sustained May 2, was projecting to keep him out until close to July 2, when he is eligible to be activated.
“There’s a chance that Tommy is better a little bit ahead of schedule, and in that case we will have a couple of extra days to get him some reps at the minor league level and give him some game action,” the manager said.
Brandon Belt was out of the lineup for a fourth straight game with side tightness. Kapler is optimistic the first baseman won’t require an IL stint and said he could be ready off the bench Wednesday, but he added caveats that it will depend upon how Belt progresses.
Brandon Crawford was out of the lineup, too, Kapler wanting to ensure his veterans especially get some rest. It helps that Cincinnati was throwing Wade Miley; as well as the shortstop has played, he is 4-for-32 against lefties (though three of those hits are home runs).
The full lineup:
1. Austin Slater, CF
2. Buster Posey, C
3. Darin Ruf, 1B
4. Evan Longoria, 3B
5. Mike Yastrzemski, RF
6. Donovan Solano, 2B
7. Mauricio Dubon, SS
8. Mike Tauchman, LF
9. Kevin Gausman, P