SAN FRANCISCO -- For the second straight year, the Giants called Heliot Ramos up from the minor leagues for their first Sunday home game.
As they did last April, the Giants are turning to the young outfielder to give them a bit more power against a string of left-handed pitchers. They'll face Kansas City's Kris Bubic on Sunday and will see Julio Urias and Clayton Kershaw when the Los Angeles Dodgers come to town Monday. Next weekend in Detroit, the Giants expect to face two more left-handed starters.
Manager Gabe Kapler said he talked to Triple-A Sacramento River Cats manager Dave Brundage, who was encouraged by Ramos' 9-for-27 start to the Triple-A season. Ramos worked on swing adjustments with big league hitting coach Justin Viele over the offseason and Brundage told Kapler that there is more consistency to his approach.
"It's exciting. We want to keep giving our young players opportunities whenever we can," Kapler said. "This just so happens to be during this run of lefties and we need to be able to get guys like (Mike) Yastrzemski off days. Hopefully we'll get (Michael) Conforto an off day here in the next couple of games, as well. Having a right-handed bat that is strong and athletic like Ramos has been, it's encouraging."
The Giants did not expect to need Ramos this soon, and he was sent to minor league camp earlier than expected in March, with Kapler saying at the time that he needed to play his way back to the big leagues. The Giants are limited on right-handed options, though.
Mitch Haniger (oblique) and Austin Slater (hamstring) are on the injured list and are unlikely to be ready for this string of lefties. Darin Ruf was re-signed on Saturday but needs time to get back up to speed at Triple-A, and he's not on the 40-man roster. After facing eight straight right-handed starters to begin the year, the Giants needed additional options.
"In a perfect world, every call-up, every opportunity would be totally merit-based and based on Triple-A performance or a long track record of success at the minor leagues," Kapler said. "It doesn't work that way, right? Guys get hurt and you need the best possible option and Ramos has had some experience at the major league level.
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"He still has all of the talent that we've consistently talked about, but yes, you don't get to do it exactly as you'd want from a development standpoint in these situations."
Other Giants notes:
-- The Giants should at least have another right-handed option behind the plate on Monday. Joey Bart played five innings for Triple-A Sacramento on Saturday and Kapler said it's possible he's activated when eligible before the opener against the Dodgers. Bart felt back tightness before the second game of the season and went on the IL.
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-- Being the Giants' ace has lined Logan Webb up for a pretty challenging first couple of weeks. He faced Gerrit Cole and Dylan Cease on the last road trip and will go up against Urias, the Dodgers' Opening Day starter, on Monday. Alex Wood faces Dustin May on Tuesday and Alex Cobb and Kershaw will pitch on Wednesday.