The San Francisco Giants announced on Tuesday that they will be reinstating outfielder Mike Yastrzemski from the 10-day IL, and in a corresponding move are optioning Landen Roupp to Triple-A. The 33-year-old hit the injured list on June 22 with a left oblique injury.
The return of Yastrzemski is significant for San Francisco because it marks the return of an everyday starter. Yastrzemski had been the everyday right fielder for the team and while he is not elite defender, he knows the ballpark well and how to play the funky balls off the brick wall. He also provides more depth as an option to play center.
Offensivley, Yastrzemski has struggled in 2024. While he is still hitting above league average, with a 106 OPS+, the lefty has lost some power. His ISO is down from his .212 mark last season to just .182 so far in 2024. He has just 17 extra base hits in 192 at-bats, and his OPS has taken a significant tumble as well, down 65 points from last year.
Although he has taken a step back offensively, he is still an important clubhouse leader as one of their long time veterans and will be important even if he continues to slump a bit. Yastrzemski will slot in at the bottom of the lineup as he was before he went down with the injury.
On the other side of things, rookie Landen Roupp was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento. The righthander was re-called on June 30, but only saw one game of action in which he struggled. In his second stint in the big leagues this year, the 25-year-old threw 2.2 innings and allowed three runs and struck out three against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Roupp looked promising early in the season, pitching to a 2.08 ERA in his first seven career outings, before two blow up appearances ballooned his ERA to 6.17 and led to his eventual option. He has looked good in his minor league outings, striking out 28 batters in 14.2 innings of work.
Although the rookie is being sent back down, it’s unlikely this is the last work he will see in the big leagues this season. The Giants are still dealing with a lot of injuries, and he has shown in his small sample size that he can go multiple innings, something the team desperately needs.
With the return of Mike Yastrzemski, and multiple pitchers on rehab assignments and working their way back, San Francisco could finally start getting healthy and get to full strength for the first time this year.
