SF Giants expect Patrick Bailey to miss minimal time with oblique strain

SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants sustained a serious blow Tuesday when Patrick Bailey was forced onto the injured list, but manager Bob Melvin was hopeful that they wouldn’t be without their starting catcher for long.

“It’s tough to say, but I’m pretty optimistic that on that 10th day, he should be ready to go,” Melvin said after the Giants’ 4-1 win over the White Sox. “Based on what I’m hearing and how he’s feeling. We were a little bit cautious with this one.”

Bailey underwent an MRI on Tuesday that revealed a strained right oblique.

Addressing reporters after being scratched Monday night but before undergoing imaging, Bailey said that the injury felt “very, very minor” and that his absence was “more precautionary than anything.”

He first felt his right side act up after taking some left-handed swings before Monday’s game.

“It wasn’t really one swing in particular,” he said. “It just kind of tightened up at the end.”

Bailey, the Giants’ second-most valuable player with 3.8 fWAR, will be eligible to be activated next Thursday for the final game of their road trip in Milwaukee, though a 10-day absence would be considered a quick recovery from an oblique strain of any severity. They often come with a timeline of 4-to-6 weeks.

“If you go out there even a game too early and you re-injure that thing,” Melvin said, “it could be a long time.”

While Bailey had been stuck in rut recently at the plate, his pitch-framing, game-calling and throwing abilities still made him one of the most valuable catchers in the sport. He has accrued 19 fielding runs above average, according to the Statcast metric that measures throwing, blocking, framing, arm and runs against average, more than double the next-closest catchers, who have nine.

In the meantime, the Giants will hand the keys to veteran backup Curt Casali, who has already had a hand in four runs from the bottom spot in the lineup while shepherding a pitching staff that has allowed four total runs after being called into duty the past two nights.

“(Bailey) is one of those guys that’s tough to replace,” Melvin said. “Even when he’s not swinging the bat well, what he does behind the plate. And at times this year he’s hit in the middle of the order for us. But Curt’s doing a good job right now. On a little bit of a roll. He knows these guys.”

When they placed Bailey on the 10-day IL, the Giants called up Jakson Reetz from Triple-A Sacramento to serve as their second catcher. But Casali said he expected to catch Logan Webb in the matinee Wednesday, which would represent the first time he started three games in a row since Sept. 18-20, 2022, after the Giants traded him to Seattle after his original tenure in San Francisco.

The bulk of the duties in Bailey’s absence will likely fall on the shoulders of the 35-year-old from Walnut Creek.

“I’m just gonna have to grind,” he said. “Obviously disappointed that Patty’s got to sit for a little bit, but excited for the opportunity to play. Hopefully we don’t skip a beat when I’m back there.”

So far, so good.

The Giants’ win Tuesday night was their seventh straight in games Casali has started, improving to 14-10 overall with him behind the plate this season.

He received word about 2 hours before Monday’s game that he would be starting that night, but prior to that had been in the starting lineup just twice in 19 games since he caught half of their double-header July 27.

“I’ll go out there and give it my best, so hopefully Webby makes it easy on me,” Casali said. “But I feel good. I’m fresh and ready to go. … I feel like a young 35-year-old right now.”