NEW YORK — As the Giants took batting practice at Citi Field earlier this week, Bruce Bochy talked at length about young outfielder Austin Slater, who has shown an ability to get on base and have good at-bats, but was looking for his first homer.
“I do like his aggressiveness,” Bochy said. “I think with more time he’s going to get the ball in the air more and the homers will come. He’s got plus power.”
Slater finally showed it Wednesday. He provided one of the only highlights of a 5-3 loss, hitting a 425-foot homer off Drew Smith in the seventh to get his first of the year. Slater got a 2-0 fastball on the inner half and blasted off. Afterward, Bochy said he wants Slater to just stick to this approach.
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“Just do what he’s doing, throw out good at-bats, find the barrel on a consistent basis,” Bochy said. “He showed tonight he’s got power. He can hit the ball out of the park.”
Slater hit three homers as a rookie last year and showed some pop, but he entered Wednesday’s game with a .318 slugging percentage. He didn’t flash that much home run power across the minors but did hit 18 homers at two levels in 2016.
—- Jeff Samardzija’s first rehab start was a good one. He allowed just one hit in four shutout innings for the Richmond Flying Squirrels, walking one and striking out one. Samardzija could be back in the big league rotation by the end of next week.
—- Down in Triple-A, Chris Shaw was reinstated from the disabled list. Shaw’s September plans may depend on what the Giants do with Andrew McCutchen. At the moment, the team feels there are an awful lot of outfielders in the mix in September already, but a McCutchen trade could clear some at-bats for Shaw, who has 22 homers this season but has battled strikeout issues with the River Cats.
