SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The San Francisco Giants have only played one Cactus League game but the ailments are already adding up.
Manager Bob Melvin told reporters on Sunday morning that left fielder Heliot Ramos is dealing with a minor oblique injury that will keep him out for roughly a week. Ramos, who missed several months with a right oblique strain in 2023, will be shut down completely for the time being.
Backup catcher Tom Murphy has also been dealing with an oblique injury for about a week and will receive a second opinion on the injury. Melvin said there will be additional updates on Murphy on Monday.
Along with Murphy and Ramos, left-handed reliever Erik Miller is dealing with numbness in a finger. Miller, the only left-handed reliever on the Giants’ 40-man roster, will throw a live bullpen on Monday. Melvin added that the Giants planned to “semi-slow play” Miller this spring after the left-hander threw 67 1/3 innings last year, the most he’s thrown in any professional season.
In more encouraging news, infielder Tyler Fitzgerald (back) is progressing well and will likely make his Cactus League debut in the coming days. Fitzgerald projects to be San Francisco’s starting second baseman after hitting .280 with an .831 OPS, 15 homers and 17 steals last season.
With Ramos, a first-time All-Star last season, currently unavailable, Marco Luciano started in left field in the Giants’ 6-1 win over the Texas Rangers on Saturday while Jerar Encarnacion got the starting nod on Sunday. For Luciano, who converted to the outfield this offseason, the five innings he played in left represented the first time he’d ever played the outfield for the Giants in a game — spring training, minors or majors.
Luciano, who’s in competition for the Giants’ fourth outfield spot, went 0-for-3 in his first game this spring but looked like a natural outfielder on defense. In the third inning of Saturday’s game, the Rangers’ Justin Foscue hit a double off the left-center field wall. Luciano took the perfect angle to play the carom off the wall, received the ball on a hop then smoothly spun into an accurate throw to second base. Foscue slid into second base safely, but Luciano’s effort made the play close. Luciano also generated an exit velocity of 111.6 when he grounded out in his final at-bat of the afternoon, the hardest-hit ball of the day.
“Lucy is an athlete, for sure,” said outfielder Jung Hoo Lee through team interpreter Justin Han. “He can play ball. Before the game, we talked about how we were going to do in the outfield today as a team. It worked out well.”
Added manager Bob Melvin: “He looked comfortable. Left field during these spring training games is the toughest field, especially early on. He made a nice play, looks like he’s a little more grounded at the plate. The bat speed looks good. He’s going to get more reps out there.”
Peguero continues impressing
Right-handed reliever Joel Peguero pitched a scoreless inning with two strikeouts in Saturday’s win and touched as high as 101.7 mph, the fastest pitch thrown by any pitcher on Saturday in all of spring training games. Including Bryce Eldridge’s 450-foot homer, the Giants were responsible for the highest exit velocity, farthest distance and fastest pitch among all games played on Saturday.
Peguero, 27, threw eight four-seam fastballs on Saturday, touching triple digits with four and hitting 101 mph with two. Peguero’s first heater only clocked in at 94.3, but he ramped up the velocity from there and lit up the radar guns.
The right-hander has pitched for four different organizations prior to the Giants and has yet to reach the majors, reaching as high as Triple-A. Last season, Peguero had a 3.14 ERA over 51 2/3 innings with 56 strikeouts for the Detroit Tigers’ Double-A affiliate.
“He’s kind of been the talk of camp when you throw 101 in the bullpen the way he had too,” Melvin said. “It gets everybody’s attention. You start to see guys filtering over to him when he throws a side.”