{"id":107613,"date":"2025-06-06T03:40:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T03:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/107613\/"},"modified":"2025-06-06T03:40:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T03:40:13","slug":"new-giants-additions-providing-immediate-spark-after-roster-shake-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/107613\/","title":{"rendered":"New Giants additions providing immediate spark after roster shake-up"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Giants additions providing immediate spark after roster shake-up<\/a> originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area<\/a><\/p>\n

SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 Nowadays, there are two different meanings to the term \u201cGiants Legend.\u201d<\/p>\n

First, in reference to a player who, unequivocally, is a \u2018legend\u2019 in every sense of the word, a la Willie Mays, Barry Bonds, Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal, Buster Posey, Will Clark, etc. You get the idea. The second, is the tongue-in-cheek version of the term that players like Daniel Johnson and Dominic Smith earned this week.<\/p>\n

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Think of it as an earning-your-pinstripes-esque term of endearment. But not to be taken literally.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re new to the Giants and you do something impactful right away, especially when the team is struggling, you\u2019re an instant folk hero for 48 hours or so.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, it was Johnson, a Bay Area native, who introduced himself to Giants fans<\/a> with a two-hit game and a run-saving catch in San Francisco\u2019s 6-5 win over the San Diego Padres<\/a> at Oracle Park. On Thursday, it was Smith, who collected three hits, including a go-ahead two-run double in the Giants\u2019 3-2 win over San Diego<\/a> in the series finale.<\/p>\n

The signing of Smith and the promotion of Johnson from Triple-A Sacramento came in a series of roster moves<\/a> before Wednesday\u2019s game, where longtime first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. and backup catcher Sam Huff were designed for assignment. It was a bittersweet day on Wednesday, but it didn\u2019t take long for both to provide a spark for a team that desperately needed one.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThese guys that we\u2019ve brought in have been impactful,\u201d Melvin said of Johnson and Smith postgame. \u201c[Andrew] Knizner too caught the entire game, guys he didn\u2019t know. I know he caught [Camilo Doval] in winter ball. He spent the entire game with Robbie [Ray] last night talking about the game plan. So it\u2019s pretty cool to see these guys come in and contribute right away, it makes them feel like part of the team that much quicker.\u201d<\/p>\n

Knizner, the 30-year-old catcher and six-year MLB veteran, was 0-for-3 at the plate on Thursday, but caught all nine innings behind the dish and was in sync with Ray, who he met for the first time approximately 12 hours before the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing,\u201d Ray said postgame when asked what he does to adjust to a new catcher. \u201cShake his hand, say \u2018Let\u2019s have some fun today.\u2019 That\u2019s kind of what I told him going into the game. I feel like we had a really good game plan going into today, I felt like he stuck with it really well. We had some moments where he called a pitch and it was exactly what I wanted to throw, so it was almost like he had been here the whole time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt overall it was a great performance by him today.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Baseball is a business, and while Wednesday\u2019s roster shake-up might have been difficult for many in the Giants\u2019 clubhouse, Smith and the other newcomers have had no trouble fitting in.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a professional group,\u201d Smith said of his early impression of the Giants\u2019 locker room. \u201cBob has been around for a while and he knows how to conduct a locker room and keep the guys together and they\u2019re pretty straightforward and honest. I think when you understand the message as a player from the organization, it\u2019s easier to go out and play and I think this team just wants to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis team, since I came in, they\u2019ve welcomed me with open arms and they\u2019re making it fun to go out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith might have further cemented his temporary \u201cGiants Legend\u201d status by changing his walk-up song to Mac Dre\u2019s \u201cFeelin\u2019 Myself,\u201d a decision he made to pay respect to the Bay Area.<\/p>\n

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\u201cCome on, I have to pay my respects,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI\u2019m an LA kid, but I have a ton of respect for the Bay, for the culture out here. Like I said, I\u2019ve been a fan from a far. It\u2019s been a surreal last few days being here and I just want to be a part of this organization not just for now, but for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n

This guy knows what he\u2019s doing.<\/p>\n

Download and follow the Giants Talk Podcast<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Giants additions providing immediate spark after roster shake-up originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area SAN FRANCISCO…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107614,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2067],"tags":[27271,17762,23671,27269,27268,7,519,26551,27273,1917,56,2321,2469,6,27274,971,20692,27272,1799,27270],"class_list":{"0":"post-107613","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-giants","8":"tag-barry-bonds","9":"tag-buster-posey","10":"tag-camilo-doval","11":"tag-daniel-johnson","12":"tag-dominic-smith","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-giants","15":"tag-giants-fans","16":"tag-lamonte-wade-jr","17":"tag-new-york","18":"tag-new-york-giants","19":"tag-newyork","20":"tag-newyorkgiants","21":"tag-nfl","22":"tag-sam-huff","23":"tag-san-diego","24":"tag-san-diego-padres","25":"tag-term-of-endearment","26":"tag-the-giants","27":"tag-willie-mccovey"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114634347566464798","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}