SF Giants SS Brandon Crawford sits with forearm tightness on Thursday

SF Giants veteran shortstop Brandon Crawford is out of the lineup on Thursday, dealing with some minor forearm tightness.

Marc Delucchi | Apr 6, 2023

SF Giants SS Brandon Crawford sits with forearm tightness on Thursday /

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San Francisco Giants

The SF Giants did not have veteran shortstop Brandon Crawford in the lineup on Thursday against the White Sox. Crawford is dealing with some mild forearm tightness in his left arm, according to reports by Giants beat writers Susan Slusser (San Francisco Chronicle) and Evan Webeck (Bay Area News Group). The Giants do expect Crawford to be back in the lineup on Friday for the team's home opener against the Royals.

With Crawford out, Giants manager Gabe Kapler shuffled around the infielder. Thairo Estrada shifted from second base to shortstop while David Villar shifted from third base to second. Slugger J.D. Davis replaced Villar at the hot corner.

SF Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford takes a swing. (2022) / Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Crawford has had an interesting start to the 2023 season. The veteran was nearly replaced this offseason by shortstop Carlos Correa before the Giants record-setting deal fell through. So, Crawford returned to his hometown team and looked to bounce back from a down 2022 campaign.

Crawford has already had an impressive performance at the plate this season. However, the Mountain View, California native has struggled overall. In his small sample of 20 plate appearances this season, Crawford is hitting just .167/.250/.389 with a double, home run, two walks, and six strikeouts. He has also had some surprising struggles defensively. In Wednesday's 7-3 loss, Crawford committed a costly error and misplayed another groundball that was ruled an infield single.

The SF Giants are hoping for a resurgent season from Brandon Crawford in 2023. Despite his age, Crawford is just two years removed 2021, when he had the best season of his career. That year, as the Giants won 107 regular-season games, Crawford hit a career-high 24 home runs with a career-best .298/.373/.522 triple-slash. He received his third career All-Star selection, third career Gold Glove Award, and finished fourth in National League Most Valuable Player voting.

Published Apr 6, 2023

MARC DELUCCHI

Marc Delucchi (he/they/she) serves as the Managing Editor at Giants Baseball Insider, leading their SF Giants coverage. As a freelance journalist, he has previously covered the San Francisco Giants at Around the Foghorn and McCovey Chronicles. He also currently contributes to Niners Nation, Golden State of Mind, and Baseball Prospectus. He has previously been featured in several other publications, including SFGate, ProFootballRumors, Niners Wire, GrandStand Central, Call to the Pen, and Just Baseball. Over his journalistic career, Marc has conducted investigations into how one prep baseball player lost a college opportunity during the pandemic (Baseball Prospectus) and the rampant mistreatment of players at the University of Hawaii football program under former head coach Todd Graham (SFGate). He has also broken dozens of news stories around professional baseball, primarily around the SF Giants organization, including the draft signing of Kyle Harrison, injuries and promotions to top prospects like Heliot Ramos, and trade details in the Kris Bryant deal. Marc received a Bachelor's degree from Kenyon College with a major in economics and a minor in Spanish. During his time in college, he conducted a summer research project attempting to predict the future minor-league performance of NCAA hitters, worked as a data analyst for the school's Women's basketball team, and worked as a play-by-play announcer/color commentator for the basketball, baseball, softball, and soccer teams. He also worked as an amateur baseball scout with the Collegiate Baseball Scouting Network (later renamed Evolution Metrix), scouting high school and college players for three draft cycles. For tips and inquiries, feel free to reach out to Marc directly on Twitter or via email (delucchimarc@gmail.com).