The second is here and the Giants' youth movement is expected to continue, especially with the July 31 MLB trade deadline approaching.
San Francisco is sending out 24-year-old pitcher Shaun Anderson to start the first game after the All-Star break Friday in Milwaukee, but that isn't the biggest storyline. The fact that Austin Slater is starting in right field is significant.
Slater is batting .429 in five games in the big leagues this year, but he was expected to mainly face left-handed pitchers when he was called up from Triple-A Sacramento. He was hitting .339 against lefties in the minors this season with a 1.078 OPS.
While Slater is batting .500 in just six at-bats against lefties in the big leagues this year, both of his homers have been hit off right-handed pitchers. Slater, 26, could certainly get a long look in the second half.
[RELATED: Giants should target this local prospect in Smith trade]
It will be interesting to see how he fares against right-handers with a larger sample size. Over 113 big league games, Slater has hit .303 off lefties compared to ,251 off right-handers.
Here are the lineups for Giants-Brewers for Friday night. First pitch is scheduled for 5:05 p.m. PT with pregame coverage beginning at 4 p.m. You can follow the action on NBC Sports Bay Area or by downloading and streaming on the MyTeams app.
Sports
San Francisco Giants (41-48)
Brandon Belt, 1B
Buster Posey, C
Evan Longoria, 3B
Alex Dickerson, LF
Kevin Pillar, CF
Brandon Crawford, SS
Austin Slater, RF
Joe Panik, 2B
Shaun Anderson, P (2-1, 4.11 ERA)
Milwaukee Brewers (47-44)
Lorenzo Cain, CF
Christian Yelich, RF
Yasmani Grandal, C
Mike Moustakas, 3B
Ryan Braun, LF
Eric Thames, 1B
Keston Hiura, 2B
Orlando Arcia, SS
Chase Anderson, P (4-2, 4.32 ERA)
