SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Late in a 2022 season that was going nowhere for the Giants, Joc Pederson regularly met bench coach Kai Correa on the infield to take grounders and do drills at first base. The Giants never needed Pederson to play first in a game, but that work set the stage for what will be a different kind of spring this year for the veteran outfielder.
Pederson took grounders at first on Thursday as the Giants went through their first workout of the spring, and he'll make appearances there during the Cactus League season. The Giants plan for Pederson to be their primary DH and still will use him in the outfield, but with Brandon Belt gone and LaMonte Wade Jr. -- also relatively inexperienced at first -- representing their only left-handed corner infield option, the Giants want Pederson to be more versatile.
"First base will take priority now, just because I'm unfamiliar with first base and if they were to say go play first base in a game, it would feel uncomfortable," Pederson said. "If they were to say go play outfield, I'd feel perfectly fine. I think it's something I was going to have to learn at some time in my career.
"Obviously I did it with the Dodgers for about a month and it did not go well at all. To get in some game experience that's not in the big leagues where you're trying to win and the stressors of that, I think this is a good time to learn. I think it's cool to use some spring training innings to get experience."
For the first time in over a decade, the Giants are at camp without Belt. Wade is set to be their starter with Wilmer Flores, J.D. Davis and David Villar also seeing time at first base, but the organization certainly is short on trustworthy left-handed infield options. Manager Gabe Kapler noted that the Pederson experiment is in the early stages but could end up being helpful.
"It would be great if Joc was capable enough if [there were a need] that he could be serviceable over there," Kapler said. "Obviously he can really bang, and if he got comfortable enough over there, this guy is a wide receiver, he's a hand-eye coordination beast, so he can do it. But we have to put the work in to get him ready for it."
Pederson is coming off a year in which he was the team's most dangerous hitter, but he also gave much of that production back with his defense in left field. When the Giants gave him the qualifying offer in November, they did so knowing that Pederson likely would not play the field much, and they went out and signed corner outfielders Michael Conforto and Mitch Haniger.
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As the moves were being made, Pederson was doing his own work. He is noticeably slimmer after changing his diet and spending much of the winter working out at Oracle Park.
"I'm definitely excited to get the season going," he said. "I thought it was a good offseason. I leaned up a bit, I'm moving around better."
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Kapler said Pederson looks more explosive and athletic, and the Giants likely still will need him in the outfield at times. Pederson expects to play outfield for Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic next month, but his focus in camp will be on getting more comfortable at first, a position where he made 19 starts in 2019 after an injury to Cody Bellinger.
Maybe the spring work will matter when regular-season games start, maybe it won't. But it's a new tool, and one Pederson will be spending a lot of time on in his second spring in Orange and Black.