SCOTTSDALE - A couple of veterans walked past a clubhouse TV earlier in camp and saw that the Giants and Padres were tied heading into the bottom of the 10th of an exhibition game. The Padres infielders were just standing around, and there was not yet a new pitcher on the mound.
"It's that time when No. 99 comes in to pitch," one of the players joked as he headed home for the day.
A few seconds later, a big left-hander took the mound. He was, in fact, wearing No. 99, and in his inning on the mound he would face a No. 74 (Aramis Garcia) and No. 78 (Steven Duggar). This is the norm for spring training, when dozens of players - including teenagers and journeymen still hanging around the low minors - get into every game. That leads to action between numbers you would never see in a normal game. The Giants had 60 players in camp, plus 10 coaches and staff members with numbers. Throw in their 10 retired numbers and the unofficially retired ones (25, 55, etc.) and, well, there aren't a whole lot of choices left.
If Duggar makes the Opening Day roster, he'll get an upgrade from his lineman's number. Ditto for Garcia, who could be Buster Posey's backup as soon as next season. Still, a taste of big league action doesn't guarantee a normal number in camp, when young players regularly find themselves back at the end of the line.
Ryder Jones wore 83 in camp last year and 63 in the big leagues. When he showed up this year, with 150 big league at-bats under his belt, he was told that he would have to wait until the end of the spring to upgrade. Players with more service time (think No. 2 Chase d'Arnaud or No. 19 Josh Rutledge) get priority, at least until all the cuts are made. Jones said he has a few numbers in mind for his next stint in the big leagues, but he won't be picky.
"Anything under 40 works," he said, smiling.
The steady climb toward single digits happens to just about everybody. Long before Brandon Crawford's became @bcraw35, he wore 79 in his first camp. He moved up to 53 after that and Mike Murphy flipped that to 35 when Crawford became the big league shortstop. Hunter Pence doesn't remember his first spring training number with the Astros, but he knows it was in the low eighties. Joe Panik wore 66 the first time he spent a spring at Scottsdale Stadium. "I was an offensive lineman," he joked. Tyler Beede, now on the cusp of his big league debut, got promoted from 63 to 32 when he arrived last spring, only to swap to 38 this year because of some in-season shifting. When Pablo Sandoval arrived last summer, Steven Okert switched from 48 to 32.
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Then there are those who have only known one jersey. Posey was a can't-miss prospect when he arrived and doesn't remember wearing anything other than 28. Brandon Belt was a top-25 prospect when he came to camp for the first time, and he's been 9 since that day. Madison Bumgarner wore 40 in his first big league camp because he had already made his big league debut, but somewhere in the team archives, there are probably a few photos of a 19-year-old Bumgarner wearing something else.
"The previous spring I came up to pitch a few times," Bumgarner said. "I'm pretty sure I had a different number every time I came over and I'm pretty sure it was always in the eighties."
There were seven Giants in the eighties this spring. Duggar was one of two top prospects - Chris Shaw inherited Crawford's old 79 - to come close, and he didn't mind one bit. He's not thinking too far ahead, even though he could be a big leaguer in eight days.
"I'll take anything if I'm in the big leagues," he said. "I'll take No. 112 if that's what they give me."
