PHOENIX — The Giants are already missing their starting third baseman. For roughly the next week, they’ll be without their backup.
The team announced on Monday afternoon that they placed infielder Casey Schmitt on the 10-day injured list (retroactive to June 27) with left hand inflammation. In a corresponding move, the Giants recalled infielder Tyler Fitzgerald from Triple-A Sacramento a week after optioning him.
“It’s unfortunate, but you go through these type of things,” said manager Bob Melvin. “We lost our other third baseman earlier, too. It’s just part of the process over the course of a long season. You give somebody else an opportunity, and a guy like Christian Koss has been doing a good job over there.”
Melvin said it’s possible that Schmitt spends the minimum amount of time on the injured list before returning.
Schmitt, 26, sustained the injury when he was plunked in the left hand/wrist area by a 95.2 mph sinker from the Miami Marlins’ Calvin Faucher. The third baseman was placed in the starting lineups on Saturday and Sunday against the Chicago White Sox but was scratched both days. His MRI on Monday came back clean but there was still bruising in the area.
“He wanted to be in there. We felt like he was making enough progress to be in there,” Melvin said of Schmitt being scratched. “That’s probably my fault for putting him in there a little prematurely. The last couple of days, it’s basically been the same for him.”
The timing of Schmitt’s injury is especially unfortunate for the infielder given how well he was playing.
In 14 games as Chapman’s replacement, Schmitt had a slash line of .375/.444/.646 with four home runs and 12 RBIs while playing above-average defense at third base. Given his performance, Schmitt positioned himself to take over as San Francisco’s starting second baseman once Chapman returned from injury.
Koss will continue starting at third base for the time being with Chapman and Schmitt both out. In four games as San Francisco’s temporary starting third baseman, Koss is 8-for-15 with three runs scored.
With Schmitt hitting the injured list, Fitzgerald returns to San Francisco from Sacramento earlier than expected.
The Giants optioned Fitzgerald, their Opening Day second baseman, to Triple-A last Monday, the goal being for him to mentally reset. Upon returning from the injured list in mid-May, Fitzgerald hit .186/.245/.227 with no home runs and three RBIs over 32 games.
“I wasn’t surprised,” Fitzgerald said of being optioned. “I felt that maybe it might come eventually. I wasn’t playing how I should be playing. I can’t blame anyone for it. But it was a good little reset for the few games I did get in and we’ll try to go from there.”
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Fitzgerald only ended up playing four games with the River Cats, going 4-for-15 before he was also hit in the left hand by an errant pitch on Friday. The plunking kept Fitzgerald out of Sacramento’s lineup on Saturday and Sunday but he is slated to start for San Francisco on Monday, batting seventh and starting at second base.
“Watching Schmitty get hit in the hand, I kind of prepared myself to get the call at any day,” Fitzgerald said. “Only getting (four) games down there is a little unfortunate, but I think mentally, I’m a little bit more refreshed and ready to go.”
Chapman continues making progress
Chapman took another important step towards returning from his right hand injury by taking batting practice at Chase Field prior to Monday’s game.
Melvin said the Giants are hopeful that Chapman will be able to return during the team’s six-game home stand prior to the All-Star Break against the Philadelphia Phillies (July 7-9) and Los Angeles Dodgers (July 11-13).
“We’ll see how it goes,” Melvin said. “Took BP in the cage, has to take BP on the field. We got to give him some kind of live at-bats and so forth, but it’s headed in the direction that we think it’s going to.”
Chapman, 32, has not played since June 8 after injuring his right hand when sliding back to first base. Over 65 games, Chapman is hitting .243 with 12 home runs, 30 RBIs and an .812 OPS.
Encarnacion starts throwing program
Along with Chapman, infielder/outfielder Jerar Encarnacion started his throwing program today and will initiate his hitting progression on Tuesday.
Encarnacion missed the first two months of the season after suffering a left hand fracture towards the end of spring training, then sustained a left oblique strain in mid-June. In his little time with the team this year, Encarnacion has gone 3-for-22 with six strikeouts over eight games.