Giants Designate Infielder Joe Panik for Assignment
By Sean Facey
One of the Giants' tenured veterans has been shown the door.
San Francisco designated infielder Joe Panik for assignment amid a flurry of roster moves on Tuesday. That move was conveniently the last one listed, which may have taken a number of Giants fans by surprise.
ROSTER MOVES:
— San Francisco Giants (@SFGiants) August 6, 2019
• LHP Sam Selman optioned to AAA Sacramento.
• LHP Conner Menez and LHP Williams Jerez recalled from AAA Sacramento.
• 2B Joe Panik designated for assignment.#SFGiants
Panik was one of the Giants' holdovers from the last World Series team in 2014.
This season has been his worst at the plate in his six-year big league career. He's posted a career-low .627 OPS and has managed just 3 home runs and 27 runs batted in through 388 plate appearances.
His defense has been as strong as ever, but it simply hasn't been good enough to excuse his abysmal performance at the plate in 2019. He's been a detriment to the team, putting up -0.4 bWAR on the year.
Giants Designate Joe Panik For Assignment https://t.co/6dgENXX9iI pic.twitter.com/kA6ud4hgEo
— MLB Trade Rumors (@mlbtraderumors) August 6, 2019
It's been a long road for Panik with the Giants. They drafted him in the first round back in 2011, and for a while, he lived up to the hype. However, his struggles on offense were too much for an offensively-starved Giants team to bear this year, especially with the Scooter Gennett acquisition.
It wouldn't be surprising, though, if a team in the playoff race looking for some infield help decided to scoop him up. At the end of the day, he's still a career .271 hitter with postseason experience and a Gold Glove to his name.
But for now, his time with the Giants has come to an end.