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Tommy La Stella activated for season debut, Luis González optioned

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© Neville E. Guard | 2021 Oct 8

Recovery from Achilles surgery delayed his season, but Tommy La Stella is back for the Giants. 

La Stella, 33, will make his 2022 debut on Monday in Colorado, as the Giants activated him from the injured list. He’ll play designated hitter and bat eighth.

Luis González, the outfielder who has hit .349 with the Giants since his call-up, was demoted to make space on the roster for La Stella. While he’s shown he can hit Major League pitching, he was the most logical odd-man out because he still has a minor-league option and the Giants likely wanted to keep rostering 13 pitchers for their series at Coors Field.  

San Francisco signed La Stella to a three-year, $18.75 million contract before the 2021 season. He’d been an All-Star with the Angels in 2019 and posted a .819 OPS in the shortened 2020 campaign. 

For the Giants, La Stella has been productive when healthy. He hit .250 with seven home runs in 76 games last year. He suffered an Achilles injury late in the season, played through it for the playoffs then underwent offseason surgery. 

La Stella played in two spring training games, but his Achilles wasn’t responding exactly right. The Giants allowed him to build up strength, conditioning and comfortability with his surgically repaired heel. In nine rehab assignment starts for the River Cats, he hit .310 with a 1.015 OPS. 

With La Stella still ramping up, the Giants have most commonly slotted Thairo Estrada at second base. The trade that sent Mauricio Dubón — another infielder with positional flexibility — to Houston telegraphed that La Stella’s return was imminent. 

Based on the nature of La Stella’s rehab, it’s unlikely he starts at second base for the Giants every day — at least not right away. That position could be viewed more as a platoon role — Estrada is right-handed, La Stella hits lefty — and there will likely be days, like Monday, when La Stella slots in at DH.

With La Stella back in the fold, the Giants are just about whole on the position player side. Steven Duggar, who’s on the 60-day IL with an oblique strain, is the only batter unavailable at the moment.

Despite being sent down, González’s stint with the big-league club was an unabashedly successful audition. There were some hiccups in the outfield, but the lefty posted a .889 OPS in 21 games and at times felt like SF’s most reliable hitter.

Against St. Louis on Sunday, González pitched late in the Cardinals’ blowout, becoming the first Giants position player to pitch since Austin Slater in 2021. In his last at-bat before being optioned, González hit a three-run home run off Albert Pujols.