Brett Pill injury: Knee surgery to sideline Giants bench player 3 weeks

The San Francisco Giants have a lost one of their potential bench players for at least three weeks. Corner infielder/outfielder Brett Pill is scheduled to go under the knife on Thursday to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee, reports Andrew Baggarly of CSN Bay Area.

The injury is definitely bad news for the 28-year-old's chances landing a bench role with the Giants -- he won't be back by Opening Day -- but it does not mean he won't nab a part-time spot once his knee is rehabbed. Manager Bruce Bochy seemed to express an openness for finding Pill a spot on the team:

"I was about to take a look at him in left field," said Bochy, who carried Pill on last year’s opening-day roster. "He’ll get this taken care of and that way he won’t have to deal with it all year."

The seventh-round pick out of Cal State Fullerton has had a part-time role with San Francisco for the last two seasons, hitting .239/.283/.419 with six home runs in 167 plate appearances. About 90 percent of Pill's playing time in the minors has come at first base, but he's moved between first, third, and left field in his brief time with the Giants.

Pill was batting .259/.310/.593 with two home runs in 10 games this spring.