Spring Training Update: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love The Churn

Spring Training the last few years of the Sabean/Evans/Bochy management regime became a predictable, mostly boring, interminable exercise.  Rosters were pretty much determined before camp even began.  Yes, there were some non-roster invitees who were surprisingly good, a pretty long list actually, but that wasn't always obvious during spring training.  You could usually predict which invitees would get bench roles based on their age and years of pro experience.  For fans, going to spring training wasn't really to scout new players, but to be part of the Giants community, basking in World Series trophies and warm fuzzy feelings.  When FZ unleashed The Churn last spring, it was a very disorienting experience with players coming and going, sometimes within a 24 hour period!  All that produced an Opening Day roster including Conner Joe as one corner OF and Someone Who I Can't Remember His Name as the other corner OF.  The unforgettable Erik Kratz was Buster Posey's backup catcher.

Since then, The Churn has produced a few better players than Conner Joe, The Forgotten One and Erik Kratz, but little more clarity for what the 2020 roster will look like.  Did I read right that there are 71 players in camp and Gabe Kapler is meeting with all of them?  That's close to 3 full Active Rosters right there!  Most fans, including me, are not likely to even know the names of much more than half those 71 players.  There are maybe 7 roster roles set, barring injury of course:  C Buster Posey, 1B Brandon Belt, 3B Evan Longoria, SS Brandon Crawford and SP's Jeff Samardzija, Johnny Cueto and Kevin Gausman.  Even with them, you get the feeling if the right trade opportunity came along, FZ would be jumping out of his shoes to make the deal. That all is not counting players hitting the waiver wire as the regular season approaches.  The upside of all this is we fans have the opportunity to see a roster built practically from the ground up right before our eyes.  That's actually kind of fun, so long as you don't get too emotionally attached to any one player or players.

With that background out of the way, let's dive into the myriads of position and role battles we are about to witness.  There is 2B, 3 OF's, 2 SP's, an entire bullpen and positional bench waiting to be filled and as many as 3-4 players trying to fill each of them.  It's all too overwhelming to tackle at once, so we'll take them one at a time in a series of posts that may extend into the exhibition season.  We'll start with the reserve catcher role.

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Barring a serious injury or unexpected trade, Buster Posey is the starting catcher.  Early reports have him moving much better than last season, his first back from major hip surgery.   I've also read rumors of monster homers into the trees beyond LF in Scottsdale Stadium during batting practices.  A healthier and stronger Buster Posey would be a huge upgrade to the Giants 2020 roster, to say the least.  The line behind Buster for the back up C role is one of the shorter ones on the roster after Aramis Garcia was lost for most of the season to hip surgery of his own.  The current contenders are Rob Brantly and Tyler Heineman.  Chadwick Tromp and Ricardo Genoves, the only other catchers in camp, are apparently ticketed for the minors.

Rob Brantly:  DOB:  7/14/1989.  B-L, T-R.  6'1", 195 lbs.

Brantly was drafted in 2010 Round 3 by the Tigers out of UC Riverside.  He advanced rapidly to AAA before a 2012 midseason trade to the Marlins.  He slashed .290/.372/.460 in his MLB debut that season but since then has bounced around the fringes of MLB getting mostly short-term backup gigs between longer stints in AAA.  His last stop, probably significantly, was with the Phillies last season where he got exactly 1 PA.  He also slashed a solid .314/.404/.462 in 272 AAA PA's.  If his ISO of .148 was .002 higher, he would meet all of the criteria to be a Max Muncy/Luke Voit breakout candidate.  He's in camp on a minor league contract with spring training invitation. He does not have milb options.

Tyler Heineman:  DOB:  6/19/1991.  B-S, T-R.  5'11", 205 lbs.

Drafted by the Astros in 2012 round 8 out of UCLA.  He advanced to AAA by 2015 putting up solid numbers along the way but then he stalled out in AAA.  He signed on with the D'Backs as a minor league FA in 2019 and slashed .325/.407/.525 for the AAA Reno Aces.  He was traded to the Marlins for cash midseason where he slashed an even better .341/.397/.622 in AAA.  He got a late season callup to the Marlins and made the most of 12 PA's with 3 hits including a 2B and HR.  The Giants signed him as a minor league FA with an invitation to spring training.  He still has 3 milb options.

Chadwick Tromp:  DOB:  3/21/1995.  B-R, T-R.  5'9", 205 lbs.

International FA out of Aruba signed by the Reds in 2012.  Has spent his entire pro career in the Reds organization with AAA experience in 2018 and 2019.  Slashed .286/.389/.610 in 90 PA's in AAA last year with peripherals that also meet criteria to be a Max Muncy/Luke Voit breakout candidate, but in a SSS.  Signed by the Giants as a minor league FA with spring training invitation.

We recently profiled Joey Bart and Ricardo Genoves in DrB's 2020 Giants Top 50 Prospects.

Breaking It Down:  Between his experience, recent performance, left-handed bat and lack of options, Rob Brantly appears to be the choice to start the season as back up catcher.  Tyler Heineman switch-hits and has similar impressive recent performance, but has options which puts him at a disadvantage.   He and Chadwick Tromp will likely go to Sacramento as depth.  The only way Joey Bart makes the team out of spring training is with a huge performance coupled with a major injury to Buster Posey.  Otherwise, he is likely ticketed for AA for more salt.  Ricardo Genoves will probably start the season in San Jose.  Of course, Russell Martin and Jonathan Lucroy are still on the FA market.  Personally I'd rather see what comes of the Brantly/Heineman/Tromp troika than go for the veteran savvy.  In the FZ era, it's always a fluid situation and we need to keep a close eye on the waiver wire as the season approaches.