Giants are starting from an especially healthy place as spring camp fully opens

New York Times

17-02-2025

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — It's become a familiar part of spring training, right up there with PFP (pitcher fielding practice), intrasquad games and overpriced beer.
The slow play.
As in, 'We are going to slow play Player X this spring.'
Lest anyone forget, spring training consists of practice and games that (while increasingly expensive to attend) don't matter. It makes sense to be mindful of load management for every player this time of year, especially the guys who are coming off surgeries. Or injury-shortened seasons. Or guys who carried a heavier workload last year. Invariably, some players will arrive in camp with a strained something-or-other that they sustained in their offseason training. At the opening of camp, every whiteboard in every manager's office will list at least a handful of players who aren't cleared to participate in on-field activities or play in exhibition games.
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So this might be the most remarkable thing about an otherwise placid and unremarkable first week at San Francisco Giants camp leading up to Monday's first full-squad workout: Aside from catcher Tom Murphy and infielder Tyler Fitzgerald, who are dealing with minor back tightness, manager Bob Melvin's group reported to Scottsdale Stadium with no physical restrictions. Everyone is full go.
That includes:
• Center fielder Jung Hoo Lee, who underwent season-ending shoulder surgery last May.
Lee should be in the lineup for the Giants' first exhibition game Saturday against the Texas Rangers at Surprise, and if he gets his way, he'll lead the team in spring at-bats. He says he won't be tentative on the bases or in the outfield, either, despite having sustained two shoulder dislocations.
'There are no limitations told to me,' Lee said. 'If I'm playing with limitations in the outfield, I think I'm not prepared for the game. So for now, I am prepared.'
• Right-hander Keaton Winn, who had ulnar nerve transposition surgery at the end of July.
Winn hit 95.5 mph in his last bullpen session and is still ramping up while trying to add 1 mph each time. He says it's the best his arm has felt in two years, which is why he isn't too concerned that the starting rotation is mostly filled out as is. They might enter this season less dependent on Winn as a rotation piece than they were last year, but they still view him as a starting pitcher. If he's throwing a 98 mph two-seamer again, he'll get opportunities.
'I actually feel like a normal boy,' Winn said. 'A real boy.'
• Infielder Wilmer Flores, who had a Tenex procedure on his ailing right knee in August.
Flores realizes that he probably wouldn't be here if he didn't have a player side of his mutual option that he could exercise for $3.5 million. He said he finished his rehab two months ago and is confident he can return to the form that allowed him to hit a team-best 23 home runs in 2023.
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'I didn't want to stop playing,' Flores said. 'This year I want to show that I still got it. And I don't want to leave San Francisco. I wanted to stay here. So it was good that I had the option.'
• Left-hander Kyle Harrison, who dealt with shoulder inflammation and diminished stuff through most of a rookie season that came to a premature end.
Harrison has touched 95 mph in side sessions and appears to be throwing from an even lower arm slot, which might add to his Chris Sale-inspired deception. He says he wants to establish himself as a strikeout pitcher again after fanning 14.6 per nine innings in the minors but just 8.7 per nine in the majors.
'A hundred percent, that's what I want to get back to,' Harrison said. 'My body wasn't in the right spot to be able to do that. I'm moving so much cleaner now and more efficiently. I'm so excited because I know how good I can be when I'm fully healthy.'
• Right-hander Jordan Hicks, who was running on fumes by June while transitioning from short relief to the rotation last season, moved to the bullpen in the second half and was shut down with shoulder fatigue in September.
Hicks spent nearly the entire offseason in San Francisco working out at Oracle Park and packed on 15 pounds of muscle. There's no hedging from anyone in the Giants organization: Hicks will open the season as a starting pitcher and there's optimism that he'll be able to thrive in that role far deeper into the season.
'I think he took a lot from last year into this year and is applying it now,' Melvin said. 'I think it's a better mindset. Physically, he's better prepared for it. Just watching his bullpens, the way he goes through his bullpens, it's more starter mode than a reliever trying to be a starter.'
• First baseman LaMonte Wade Jr., who played cautiously on a touch-and-go hamstring for most of the second half and has dealt with recurring leg injuries during his time as a Giant.
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Wade, a free agent after this season, said he focused on strengthening his legs while working out at the University of Maryland over the winter. He comes to camp with so much confidence that he told Melvin that he's open to playing some outfield this spring.
'I'm not trying to do anything special,' Wade said. 'I'm just trying to be healthy all season and last the whole season without going on the (injured list) again, or whatever.'
• Outfielder Wade Meckler, whose patience was tried for three months last year as he waited for his mysterious left-hand pain to go away.
Meckler finally got over the hump after a cortisone shot but spent the final two months at Triple-A Sacramento attempting to unlearn bad mechanical habits at the plate. He's spraying the ball all over the field in batting practice again, and he added some strength in the offseason, too. The Giants plan to give him some work at second base in addition to the outfield.
'I feel a lot more physical,' said Meckler, who owns a .328 average across three minor league seasons. 'I feel I got a little faster this offseason as well. Which is, you know, good.'
Even non-roster invitees like right-hander Lou Trivino, who had Tommy John surgery to reconstruct his elbow ligament in 2023 and was shut down during a rehab assignment last September because of shoulder pain, is starting camp on an equal footing and throwing bullpen sessions along with all the other relievers.
It won't stay this way, of course. Murphy already won the prize that nobody wants: the first MRI exam of the spring. The Giants will have to employ the slow-play strategy where needed this spring. But an almost injury-free camp is a pretty good place to start.
(Top photo of Jordan Hicks: Suzanna Mitchell / San Francisco Giants / Getty Images)