The Giants announced a series of roster moves this morning, highlighted by the club selecting the contract of infielder David Villar. Infielder Casey Schmitt was placed on the injured list with a left oblique strain, which clears a spot for Villar on the active roster, and a 40-man roster spot for Villar was created by transferring slugger Jerar Encarnacion to the 60-day injured list.
Villar, 28, has been a generally passable but unspectacular utility infielder for the Giants since he made his big league debut with the club back in 2022. In 109 big league games since then, he’s hit a slightly below league average .200/.288/.400 with a massive 32.4% strikeout rate that he somewhat makes up for with substantial power that could translate to 25-to-30 homers if given a full season’s worth of plate appearances. He pairs that power with the ability to play capable defense at first, second, or third base as necessary despite the majority of his working having come at the hot corner.
He’s always raked against Triple-A pitching, as evidenced by his .273/.381/.507 career line across parts of four seasons at the level. Unfortunately for Villar, however, he’s yet to prove himself in the majors and is currently out of options. That led the Giants to prefer carrying optionable bench pieces like Schmitt and Brett Wisely to open the year, leaving them to designate him for assignment just prior to Opening Day. He ultimately went unclaimed on waivers and was outrighted to the minor leagues by the Giants, where he resumed hitting extremely well over 15 games before today’s call-up. The right-handed hitting Villar figures to back up Matt Chapman and Tyler Fitzgerald at second and third base, but most of his playing time could come in a platoon with struggling lefty LaMonte Wade Jr. after his previous platoon partner Schmitt hit the injured list.
Speaking of Schmitt, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reported yesterday that he was likely to head to the shelf after he suffered an oblique strain while hitting in the cages just before yesterday’s game. A timetable for Schmitt’s return is unlikely to be available until after he’s undergone testing to determine the severity of the strain, but he’ll be out for the next ten days at least even if the strain turns out to be extremely mild. It’s been a tough start to the year for Schmitt so far, as he’s hit just .174/.208/.261 in his current part-time role with the club. Of course, those numbers came in just eight games and 24 plate appearances. A look at Schmitt’s work in 40 games last year, where he hit .252/.283/.477, is far more encouraging and comes in a more robust (though still fairly small) sample of 113 plate appearances.
As for Encarnacion, his placement on the 60-day IL is hardly a surprise. The slugger was ticketed for a regular DH job with the Giants but suffered a hand fracture just before Opening Day and is expected to miss at least eight weeks due to the issue. That means he could be transferred without it impacting his potential timeline for return at all, as his minimum stay on the IL will expire in late May, right away the most optimistic date for his expected return to action. The 27-year-old was a league average hitter for the Giants in 35 games last year and got the club’s attention after raking for the Mexican League’s Guerreros de Oaxaca and the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Sacramento.
It will be very nice to see a meaningful, competitive Dodgers vs Giants series. I grew up watching those, but it’s seemingly been a while.
There were many memorable games between them in 2021.
I’ve been saying (hoping) that Villar could be the next Rooker.
Rooker didn’t break out until he was 28 years old; Villar is 28. The power has always been there. Not everyone figures it out early.
Here’s hoping David has finally found it.
Lamont is horrible right now and Villar is raking with Sacramento. A no brainier. Glad Villar gets rewarded for his hot start.
Don’t get overly excited about Villar. He’s been hot in AAA before & struggled when called up. Maybe this time he will take advantage of the opportunity & provide above league average offense & good defense at 1B
Exactly. I would love it if he finally sticks but I have great doubt that will happen. I really think he is one of those career AAAA players. Defense is average at best and not much speed. He’s going to have to hit homers regularly to makeup for tons of K’s. Fingers crossed.
Honestly, we’ve seen quite a bit of Villar over the past few years, and he’s not been good at the MLB level. I hope that he finds a way to contribute, but TBH, I’m surprised he’s still on this roster.
He was DFA’d this spring but no other organization picked him up, so he went back to AAA Sacramento with the Giants. Word is he’s been making better swing judgements this year in the minors, but as others have said, he’s had numerous chances before. Let’s hope this works out.
He has supposedly cut his swing down. More contact, fewer strikeouts, fewer home runs in his future?
I can hear the faint sound of Brett Wisely’s teeth grinding somewhere.
I was ready for Wisely because Fitzgerald sucked on offense until the last week or so. And is it just me that thinks Huff is a waste of a roster spot. He’s lost with the bat. Don’t know the situation with Stassi but Huff doesn’t cut it at all IMHO.
Fitz earned the right to stay in there following a slow start after he proved himself last year. Sticking with him has already shown to be the right move instead of a knee jerk reaction and adding Wisely. I have to agree with the Huff spot. A terrible defensive catcher that can’t hit from either side of the plate. Bring up the defensive stud in Stassi. At least he’ll bring something to the team.
Fitzgerald can hang for awhile longer because he can bop. Schmitt, Villar, Huff, Koss, and Wisely are all AAAA guys.
I agree scottn
Villar will play mostly 1st base and some 3rd. Wisely doesn’t.
Neither did Schmitt until a couple weeks ago.
your point?
That it doesn’t matter that Wisely doesn’t play 1b, because Schmitt (who Villar is replacing) also doesn’t play 1b.
I’m more concerned that Encarnacion is now on the 60-day IL. I thought he might be back sooner. But it is tough for Casey.
Pete, Yeah, I had the same reaction about Encarnacion. I feel bad for Schmitt personally, but he’s been mostly non-productive, and won’t be missed IMO.
I’m sure you and Pete’sView know more than I but is the 60 day DL retroactive to a particular date?
When someone is moved off the 10 day on to the 60-day it’s from the same date. If I’m not mistaken, he opened the season on the 10-day, so he should be able to be reinstated on the 61st day of the season.
As always thanks Jean.
I thik that’s correct.
Not sure what to make of the oddities of Villar’s numbers in AAA. Small sample, but his OBP and SLG are identical, .439. Great OBP, but only so-so SLG. And, it’s a miniscule sample, 15 PAs, but against LHPs his BA and SLG are also identical, .286.
I wish could fine his BABIP, but the MiL stats don’t go to that level. Nearest I can deduce is that he’s been solid, with a well-balanced approach, but unspectacular in terms of power.
Report (as I mentioned above) is that he’s making better plate decisions this year albeit with less pop.
Yeah, I think you’re right.
Oh boy, we’ll get to hear Jon Miller mispronounce Villar every time.
Who? Oh. John MEE-YER.
David VEEyar. Correct way is VeeYAR. Travis DARno says Miller. It’s DarNO. Miller doesn’t care cuz he’s in the HOF. How dare anyone suggest he’s clueless. His ego is size on GGBridge.
And the Padres recalled Tirso Ornelas. Jason Heyward to the IL…
Is Ornelas a good prospect for the Padres?
Better than Heyward at this juncture.
Best 4A hitter for the Giants since John Bowker!
Sort of like Mac Williamson although he had finally started figuring it out when he got injured on the warm up mound on the third base line. Stupid location and it was dangerous to anyone warming up as a reliever.
I was there! We all gasped when that happened.
I remember a lawsuit being filed on behalf of Mac but I don’t know what became of it.
Let us not forget Todd Linden.
Nor should we forget Brett Pill.
I remember Randy Elliott who, in 1977 spring training hit something like.750 over 50 at bats. We all thought he would be a star.Oops.
Notes: Adames looks bad offensively and defensively. Huff can’t hit or field, Wade is lost, Ramos drending down. Wilmer has stopped his good start. Bailey looks like his usual Aug-Sept self early. Schmitt on DL but guy has been given too many chances. Koss…please. Matos AAAA player. Chapman heating up, Lee very good. Fitz fine. Can any starter besides Webb get thru 1-2 innings without giving up multiple runs? Weak bench. Need RH 1B and a starter. Let’s go Jints.
Point?
And yet the Giants are 14-7.
The Giants need to move on from Lamont Wade and use some placeholders til Eldridge is ready to come up.
I wouldn’t call .273 “raking.”
I would if I’m looking at more than BA, and seeing good numbers elsewhere. For example, would you say that Ohtani’s .277 BA isn’t raking? Ohtani has a .375 OBP, a .530 SLG, which computes to a .905 OPS, and a 158 OPS+. He also has 6 HRS along with a 2B and a 3B. I’d say that .277 is clearly raking.
Ohtani isn’t playing AAA.
Good point.
As of the game on 4/19 LaMonte has one hit in his last 40 plate appearances and Melvin is still running him out there every day.
Yet the Giants are still 14-7 with a bunch of other guys off to slow starts. It’s up to timely hitting and an otherworldly bullpen so far.. Here’s hoping Verlander can right the ship. Hicks hit 102mph in his last start and was great after the first inning but might be better suited coming out of the bullpen. Birdsong is legit and gets his heater up to triple digits.
His 25-30 HR power could platoon with LaMonte Wade Jr. to spark SF’s lineup!