The Giants posted their list--18 players--of non-roster invitees to Spring Training.
Ten are pitchers:
Matt Carasiti (R), 29 in July, 2012 6th-round pick (COL), pre-arb (25-1/3 IP ML exp)
Tyler Cyr (R), 27 in May, Giants 10th-round pick in 2015, no ML time
Rico Garcia (R), 26, 2016 30th-round pick (COL), rookie/pre-arb (6 IP ML exp)
Sean Hjelle (R), 23 in May, Giants 2nd-round pick in 2018, no ML time
Trey McNutt (R), 31 in August, 2009 32nd-round pick (CHC), no ML time
Sam Moll (L), 28, 2013 3rd-round pick (COL), rookie/pre-arb (6-2/3 ML exp)
Carlos Navas (R), 28 in August, A's amateur free agent (Ven, 2010), no ML time
Andrew Triggs (R), 31 in March, 2012 19th round pick (KCR), arb-eligible (163 IP ML exp)
Raffi Vizcaino (R), 24, Giants amateur free agent (DR, 2013), no ML time
Sam Wolff (R), 29 in April, 2013 6th round pick (TEX), no ML time
Carasiti has almost 600 IP in the minors including a stint in Japan, mostly as a reliever. He was used as an opener in Seattle last season. He signed a minor-league deal with the Giants after being outrighted by the Mariners. Cyr is a whiff artist who has missed time due to TJS but was back to his whiffing ways last season (57 K in 48-1/3 IP) at AA-Richmond. Garcia has been a starter at every level including college and opened some eyes with a nice 13-game stretch for AA-Hartford (68 IP, 41 H, 16 R, 87 K) last year. He was picked up off waivers, non-tendered, then re-signed with the Giants on a minor-league deal. Hjelle is almost seven feet tall and if he makes the majors would be the tallest player in MLB history. The team is intrigued by his uniqueness and he seems to be on the fast track. Except for his freshman year at Kentucky he's been exclusively a starter. McNutt has to be the most determined player on the list, he's been in pro ball since he was 19 including stints in independent leagues as well as in Mexico. Moll was a Rule V pick and signed a minors deal with the Giants last year. Navas was a Giants NRI last spring, he's another highly determined fellow, logging ten seasons in the minors including four in Venezuela. Triggs has 27 starts in the bigs from 2016-2018, all with the A's. He missed last season due to surgery. Vizcaino looks like a swingman, having been a starter and closer in the Giants system. He'll likely wind up at AA-Richmond. Wolff was acquired in the Matt Moore trade. He's a reliever and will probably be assigned to AAA-Sacramento. He was a Giants NRI last spring.
In other news, the Giants apparently completed their coaching staff by hiring former ballplayer Nick Ortiz as their "Quality Control" man. I don't know what QC guys do in baseball but these are modern times and we need modern job titles so I am OK with it. Ortiz is from Puerto Rico and a native Spanish speaker. He was an infielder (mostly SS) and logged 17 seasons (1423 G) in the minors including time in independent leagues and in Puerto Rico. He's 46 and spent the last two seasons managing rookie-ball teams for the Yankees in the Gulf Coast League and the Appalachian League. Wow, talk about determination! You really have to love the game to play that long and never crack a big-league roster.
I'll cover the position players later.
--M.C.
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Here's a bit from the Giants website about Ortiz:
The Giants did not have a quality assurance coach last year, but Kapler laid out his vision for the role last month during the Winter Meetings.
“It can mean any number of things,” Kapler said. “I think it's just a title that a lot of clubs use to identify maybe the last coach on their staff. It’s definitely not the least important, but we thought about it as a conduit between strength and conditioning, medical, the cage, the bullpen, bringing that all together. We thought about somebody who is more focused on creating culture. We thought about somebody who analyzes and evaluates practices and seeks to make them better. That's one way to think about it.”
The Giants now have 11 members on their coaching staff, though only seven can be in uniform and in the dugout during games.
Third-base coach Ron Wotus in the lone holdover from Bruce Bochy’s staff. The other newcomers include bullpen and catching coach Craig Albernaz, pitching coach Andrew Bailey, director of pitching Brian Bannister, bench coach and infield coach Kai Correa, co-hitting coaches Donnie Ecker and Justin Viele, assistant pitching coach Ethan Katz and director of hitting and assistant hitting coach Dustin Lind.
Ortiz and the 58-year-old Wotus are the only Giants coaches over 40.
There's also Antoan Richardson at first base.
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