There’s no question that bench coach Kai Correa has his work cut out for him as he tries to help the Giants solve their woes on defense.
The Giants entered Tuesday’s game with the Houston Astros 30th and last in Major League Baseball in both errors (21) and fielding percentage (.967). The Giants committed three errors in their 6-4 loss to the Astros on Monday, with two coming in an unsightly third inning as Houston took a 5-0 lead.
Playing third base for Evan Longoria, Donovan Solano committed two errors Monday. Solano, who owns a 15-game hitting streak and a .458 batting average, missed Tuesday’s game with abdominal soreness, although manager Gabe Kapler said he did not feel the injury affected his defense. Solano will be reevaluated Wednesday when the Giants finish their three-game series at Minute Maid Park.
Correa, in his first season with the Giants, is trying some unique fielding drills in an effort to help.
In spring training, the Giants were using what Kapler called a high velocity training drill. Correa uses a fungo bat to hit tennis balls in close proximity at a fast rate to infielders to improve reaction time, force them to use their hands and partly replicate some of the unpredictability of a ground ball. The drill’s been brought back.
“(Correa) calls it a primer for the game,” Kapler said. “If you see balls moving very quickly, you see them bouncing unconventionally, that mirrors the strange things that can happen in a game and the speed and the velocity of which it happens.
“So Kai feels if there’s one drill that we can do to kind of speed up the engine of our defenders, that’s it. So we’ve been focusing pretty heavily on that. He’s been gathering defenders in smaller groups and using that drill as a way to correct some of the issue we’ve has this far.”
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The Giants had committed at least one error in seven of their 11 losses before Tuesday. In those games, San Francisco committed a combined 15 errors.
“We look at all defensive metrics and we probably lean most heavily on the eye test,” Kapler said, “and right now, the eye test tells us that our defensive work as a team isn’t good enough. We have to get better.”
Monday marked the sixth time this season the Giants had committed at least two errors in a single game.
“As a team, I think the fewer mistakes we make, the quicker we can clean up these mistakes, the more likely it is that those comebacks turn into wins and not just valiant efforts,” Kapler said after the loss. “There’s no question if we make fewer mistakes, we’re going to convert those into opportunities to compete late in games.”
WEDNESDAY’S STARTER: Kapler would not say who his starter would be for Wednesday’s series finale with the Astros. There has been speculation, though, that it will be right-hander Trevor Cahill.
If so, Cahill, added to the Giants’ taxi squad earlier this week, would be taking the spot of Jeff Samardzija, who was placed on the 10-day injured list earlier this week with a shoulder impingement.
Cahill, 32, was signed to a minor league game in February and hasn’t started a game since May 27 of last season. In what became a forgettable year with the Los Angeles Angels, Cahill was then moved the bullpen. He finished the year with a 4-9 record and a 5.98 ERA, his highest in any one season.
“I’ve found Trevor to be a thoughtful, deep thinker about his work on the mound. He really understands himself well and is a good self-evaluator,” Kapler said. “Most of what we spent time doing was trying to put him in the best position to succeed his own development.
“We’ve talked a lot about the way Cahill’s pitches move and we talked the way he can utilize his pitches best, and he’s been really influential in driving those discussions.”
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