Depth Charts: Center Field

Put me in coach! (not ashamed to say it)

This is the seventh of a series of depth charts, taking a comprehensive look at each position across the entire SF Giants’ organization. So far, we’ve looked at:

• Catcher

• First Base

• Second Base

• Shortstop

• Third Base

• Corner Outfield

The Giants will always and forever be the franchise of Willie Mays. Nothing — no highs or lows — will ever take that particular shine off this franchise. The greatest player who ever suited up called, and still calls, this team “home.” And home has a special meaning in baseball — it’s the place you’re always striving to get to, after all.

And the long legacy of the GOAT means that there is a special mantle that comes with being a Giants’ center fielder. Not that that mantle has been carried with particular grace or dignity over the last, oh, 40 years or so, but it’s still there. And it’s especially there for center fielders who are rising up through the system. Not to revisit my gambit from the last post, but there was a time when the center fielder pipeline was always full to the brim — when Bobby Bonds and Ken Henderson and Garry Maddox all carried with them the “next Mays” burden. That time feels like it exists in myth and legend these days, but a Giants’ center fielder will always have the eyes of Willie on them. And this spring, there should be some kids running around out there in spring training games that bring a special gleam to those eyes. Because these days, we have some kids who can really run them down the way Willie used to.

You like that one? How about this?

Eugene Emeralds @EugeneEmeralds

WEB GEM!!! DON’T HIT THE BALL TO LUIS MATOS!

Yep, we got some high ceiling, decent floor center fielders on the rise in this system. But how high? That’s what we need to nail down today…