San Francisco Giants Slugger Reportedly Convinced To Sit Against Former Team

With one of the San Francisco Giants' star players trying to get back on the field after picking up an injury, he reportedly was convinced to not come back against his former team despite being eligible to do so.

Apr 27, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants left fielder Michael Conforto (8) before the game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Oracle Park. / Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

It's been a great stretch of games for the San Francisco Giants over the last two weeks.

Winners of eight out of their last 10, they put themselves right back into the NL West race and held onto a tie for the third Wild Card spot entering their matchup on Monday.

After many of their projected contributors were out of the lineup with injuries, the Giants had to rely on some of their minor leaguers and top prospect to fill that void.

They were able to do so after a bit of time, and once the players started returning from the injured list, the offense has finally started to perform like they were expected to coming into the year.

What's been impressive is that San Francisco has been able to do all of this without Michael Conforto in the lineup.

The 31-year-old has been out since May 11 after he was removed from the game when clutching at his right hamstring. He was diagnosed with a strain, something that caused him to miss 19 games of action last year with the same injury in his left leg.

Conforto is still on the sidelines even after he was eligible to come off the 10-day IL last Wednesday.

The Giants are weighing different options and are seeing if they need to send him on a rehab assignment prior to him rejoining their Major League team, but it also sounds like their star outfielder was looking to play over the weekend before being convinced otherwise.

Michael Wagaman of NBC Sports Bay Area writes, "Conforto pushed to play against his former team but was convinced to give his injury more time to heal."

Hamstring injuries are always tricky to handle, especially for players who have shown a history of missing extended time, so it should come as no surprise the team is being cautious with one of their best players this early in the year.

It's also not shocking to hear Conforto was pushing to play as soon as he was eligible, especially when that would have come against his former club in the New York Mets.

San Francisco is certainly hoping he gets healthy enough to return soon as he was slashing .280/.331/.490 with seven homers, 15 extra-base hits, and 20 RBI through his first 38 games.