Bo Davidson and Scott Bandura are both putting together the kind of Triple-A seasons that usually force a team’s hand. The problem for the SF Giants is that the outfield picture already looks crowded from the same side of the plate.
That’s the roadblock here: both prospects hit left-handed, and the Giants already have four left-handed-hitting outfielders on the roster in Jung Hoo Lee, Drew Gilbert, Turner Hill, and Grant McCray. Lee is locked into regular at-bats, while Gilbert has carved out a dependable role.
Hill has looked good in a tiny sample of 19 plate appearances, and on paper he brings a similar strong-side platoon profile to Gilbert. McCray sits lower on the depth chart and arrived in the middle of Monday’s roster shuffle.
With Lee and Gilbert expected to take most of the outfield playing time, the opportunities get even tighter when a left-handed pitcher is on the mound, because Jonah Cox will be in the lineup then. If Hill ends up handling the right-handed pitching side of a platoon, there may not be much room left at all over the next five weeks.
Still, Davidson and Bandura have done plenty to make the conversation real.
Both began the season in Double-A, and Bandura was the first to move up to Triple-A. Since then, he has hit .321/.395/.482 with a 130 wRC+, eight home runs, 56 RBI, and 58 runs in 354 plate appearances.
He has also posted a 10.7 percent walk rate, a 15.0 percent strikeout rate, and a .161 ISO. On top of the bat, Bandura has been a major threat on the bases, going 20-for-21 in stolen-base chances with the Sacramento River Cats.
Davidson has surged more recently. After a slower start in Triple-A, he has been on a tear since the middle of August, and his overall line now sits at .305/.391/.519 with a 135 wRC+, six home runs, 27 RBI, and 23 runs in 151 plate appearances for Sacramento. He has added five steals in five attempts, giving the Giants another outfielder who can impact the game on the bases.
The two prospects also share another trait: their stronger production comes against right-handed pitching. That matters because the Giants’ current outfield mix already leans in that direction. In practical terms, Bandura and Davidson are offering a lot of the same ingredients as the players ahead of them.
So even with both making a push, a call-up before the end of the year may require an injury to open the door. And given how new they still are to Triple-A, it may also make sense for both to keep getting regular reps there through the finish of the season.
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Giants Just Gave Fans Another Reason To Question Their Priorities
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Steve Tseng, the teams vice president of partnerships, acknowledged concerns about gambling addiction while making the case that betting will happen either way and that the organization would rather shape the conversation around it. For a franchise trying to balance revenue opportunities with the optics of those choices, the deal is likely to invite the same questions all over again about where the line should be drawn. [Read more 🡒]