Same names, different order

Sometimes. Sometimes a different order. Sometimes not!

While it’s too early to make any grand pronouncements about the Giants, six games into the season, there is one thing we can say about their new manager: he likes having a consistent lineup.

Some of that is admittedly due to roster construction. There somehow aren’t any left-handers on the bench, so a position like first base, that could conceivably by a semi-platoon situation, instead is a lot simpler. If your evaluation is that Casey Schmitt gives you a better chance to win than Jerar Encarnacion, then it was better to start Schmitt yesterday, it is better to start him today, and it will be better to start him tomorrow. Schmitt did not have the best defensive day yesterday, but he is still likely better defensively at first base than Encarnacion, who tends to look unplayable no matter where he’s stationed in the field.

But even if it’s understandable, it’s still weird, right? I think it’s weird. Let’s spend the rest of this newsletter talking about how it’s weird.

Just as a comparison, within the first five games of the 2025 season, every position player on the Giants had started at least once. Six games in to 2026, the Giants have nine position players who have each started six times, and four who have each started zero times. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this from any team, whether it’s major league, minor league, or college.

So what’s going on? There are a few possibilities that I see. The first is that Tony Vitello is declaring that these are His Guys, and that the most important thing he can do for the team is get them going. You don’t start hitting by sitting on the bench, and no one’s really hitting yet, so he’s going to keep running them out there until they get comfortable. After all, you don’t want this problem to linger for months. Let the lineup work out the kinks, and once they’re ready to go, then he can start getting them some rest and working the backups in.

The next possibility is that he forgot he had more than 9 hitters, and thought those other players were maybe just more bullpen guys. Who the hell is Jared Oliva? Vitello just got here, so how’s he supposed to know?

Or it could be that Vitello is just putting hit best lineup out there every day. These are his best players, he wants to win, ipso facto¹ they’re the guys who are going to start. Sometimes the simplest explanation is correct.

But whatever the explanation, it just seems like a bad idea. Jerar Encarnacion took his first competitive at-bat in a week yesterday, and Christian Koss, Daniel Susac, and Oliva are still waiting. How are they going to remain sharp? There’s only so much you can do in BP or in the cage without facing competitive, major league pitching. These guys are being put in position to fail whenever they do get into a game. And every one of them (other than Susac, maybe) has to be asking himself, what’s my role on this team?

Because even if Vitello is the most convincing guy in the world in the clubhouse, the facts speak for themselves. Ball don’t lie, and neither does lack of ball. No one in the outfield is crushing the ball, so it would be trivial to get Oliva in for a day, but they haven’t done it. Yesterday was a day game after a night game, which is a classic time to get your backup catcher in there and save your starter’s legs, but the Giants didn’t do it. Matt Chapman’s OPS is under .600 and Casey Schmitt’s is under .450, but their backups can’t get a start.

At some point, the backups have to start understanding that this is simply what the team thinks of them, which won’t be great for their confidence, and could make them more tense and mistake-prone whenever they do get onto the field. Really, Bailey starting is a little worse than it appears at first blush because yesterday’s starter was Adrian Houser, and it’s not like Bailey has some long history with Hauser like he does with Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, or even Landon Roupp. Susac could absolutely have made that start, and for most teams in baseball, and most teams in baseball history, would have. It’s just very curious that that didn’t happen.

And then there’s the possible negative effects on the starters. Because guys can wear down. It’s the beginning of the year right now, so it’s not going to happen soon, but getting players regular rest throughout the year helps keep them fresh for the whole season. If Bailey’s legs turn to dust in June because of his overuse over the first three months of the season, he’s probably not getting those legs back until the offseason. Getting him consistent off days would be a smart way to keep him on the field, fully effective, all year long. Maybe that’s coming later, but there’s no time like the present to start, and the Giants haven’t started yet.

It may be unfair, but I do have to wonder how much of this is because Vitello didn’t have to deal with it nearly has much when he was in college. College baseball teams play 4-5 times a week, from February though May. That’s a whole lot easier than 6 times a week, April through September, especially because the college kids have the energy and metabolism of college kids. Is Vitello failing to appropriately prioritize rest because he didn’t have to at his old job? You have to at least consider the question.

Obviously, this trend cannot continue long-term, especially if the offense continues to scuffle. At some point, Bryce Eldridge will be up from AAA, which will shake up the first base picture, and eventually someone will go on a long hot streak and carry the team for a while, prompting Vitello to build the lineup around him until the inevitable cool-down.

For now, though, it’s weird on a number of levels. It seems like it could well have some negative side effects, but for the moment, we’ll just have to wait and see. You know, just like the Giants bench! There’s not a lot we can do to alter the outcome, so let’s hope the people who are altering the outcome are making the best decisions they can..

1. I am not interested in learning whether this is an appropriate use of “ipso facto,” thank you very much. It seems like it should be correct, though, right? Don’t answer that, lawyers. Or people who know Latin