SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — When he reported to camp last month, center fielder Angel Pagan said he was 100 percent.
“Right now, I’m pain-free,” he said in February.
Here in mid-March, that’s no longer the case.
Pagan was scratched from the Giants lineup for a second straight game because of lower back tightness. For most players, this would be a blip on the radar this time of year, but any tweak for Pagan is noteworthy. The Giants’ leadoff hitter had season-ending surgery on a bulging disk in his back last September, missing the postseason.
Bochy said he is unsure if this tightness is in the same spot as the surgical procedure. He called Pagan’s condition “general back stiffness in the lower back.”
Pagan, 33, has played just 167 games in two seasons since signing a four-year contract after the 2012 season.
