Tommy La Stella activated, Luis González optioned

Tommy La Stella is officially back. The left-handed hitting second baseman, who has been on the Injured List all season, was activated by the San Francisco Giants on Monday, ahead of their series against the Colorado Rockies. The Giants are facing right-handed pitchers in the first two games of the series, and La Stella jumps straight into the lineup as the designated hitter for Monday’s opener.

To make room for La Stella on the 26-player active roster, the Giants are reportedly optioning outfielder Luis González to AAA Sacramento. This comes a day after González pitched 1.1 scoreless innings in the Giants blowout loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, and hit a home run off of fellow position player Albert Pujols.

Tough league.

González has been exceptional in the batter’s box for the Giants this year, sporting a 153 wRC+, though he’s been a bit tough to watch in the outfield. It’s a big loss for the Giants to have to temporarily say goodbye to him, but unless they wanted to roll with only 12 pitchers for a while, it was the only reasonable choice (Mike Yastrzemski, Austin Slater, and Joey Bart are the only other position players with options, and they weren’t going anywhere).

But it will be nice for the Giants to have La Stella back, and have another left-handed hitting option in the infield. He had an excellent rehab stint in AAA Sacramento, hitting .310/.429/.586 with two home runs in 35 plate appearances, and more walks (five) than strikeouts (four).