Giants’ outfield of the future?
SACRAMENTO — They’re pals, outfielders and pursuing the same goal in the same organization.
Yet, they don’t view themselves competing against one another to get what they want, which is making a name for themselves in the big leagues.
“We want each other to be the best we can be,” Austin Slater said. “That’s what friends do.”
Slater, Chris Shaw and Steven Duggar compose one heck of a prospect trifecta, a rarity for the Giants, who have had little success drafting and developing outfielders over the past several decades. All have come through the system and seem to have the skill set and conviction to end the drought.
Add in Mac Williamson, another homegrown player who blasted his way out of Triple-A in late April, and the Giants’ hope is that they no longer will need to construct their outfield from the outside, which annually has been the case — the acquisitions of Andrew McCutchen and Austin Jackson serving as the latest examples.
It’s not far-fetched to imagine in
“In my eyes, there’s room for all of us up there. So I don’t think there’s a point for us to root against each other.”
Austin Slater, Giants outfield prospect
the not-too-distant future an outfield of Duggar in center and any combination of the others at the corners.
Slater is the only one of the current Sacramento trio with major-league experience: 39 games, including five this season. He hit .300 at every level, including Triple-A, in which he batted .321 last year and is at .368 this year.
Duggar, one of the final cuts in
spring training, is the center fielder of the future, a do-it-all player who can hit, run and defend with much-needed athleticism.
Shaw, who’s Slater’s roommate in Sacramento — they live a cutoff throw from Duggar — is the best power threat in the organization. At least he was until Williamson, a late-blooming 27-year-old, crushed three home runs in five games with the Giants before going on the concussion disabled list.
“In my eyes, there’s room for all of us up there,” Slater said. “So I don’t think there’s a point for us to root against each other.”
The story has been told over and over about the Giants’ absence of homegrown outfielders, that the only one since Marvin Benard in 2000 with 500 plate appearances in a season was Fred Lewis in 2008, the first year of the post-Barry Bonds era.
The last homegrown outfielder to represent the Giants in an All-Star Game was Chili Davis in 1986, and the last one to win a Gold Glove was Bobby Bonds in 1974. The last time the Giants had two homegrown outfielders in an Opening Day lineup was 1986 (Davis, Dan Gladden), and the last time with three was 1974 (Gary Matthews, Garry Maddox, Bobby Bonds).
So, yes, the Giants are due. We caught up with Duggar, Shaw and Slater at Sacramento’s Raley Field, and here are their stories:
The speed guy
On the final day of the Bay Bridge Series, Duggar packed his bags for Sacramento, not quite ready for the big leagues in management’s eyes. Injuries limited the center fielder last year, and his career included just 46 Triple-A at-bats.
He looks fine now. After a slow start, Duggar had pushed his average to .280 with a .380 on-base percentage in 24 games at Sacramento.
“If anything, it’s an adjustment period,” Duggar said. “You jump from level to level, it took a couple of weeks to get going here. I’m working with (hitting coach Damon Minor), making things a little more simple, more consistent at the plate. There are at-bats I want back, at-bats I’m happy with. But it’s all about the development, all about trying to progress each day.”
Duggar, 24, a sixth-round pick from Clemson in 2015, could supply elite speed and outfield defense that the Giants lack and fill a hole as a bona fide leadoff hitter.
One of Duggar’s aims is improved situational hitting. In a recent game, with a man on third and one out with the score 1-1, Duggar swung at a 3-2 changeup and bounced out to short.
“We got the run home,” Duggar said. “That was the only thing that mattered.”
Though a Giants promotion is a matter of when and not if, Duggar said he’s not caught up in such talk. Had he opened the season in the majors, he likely would have platooned with Jackson and not played much — the Giants faced 15 lefty starters in their first 24 games.
“Honestly, that’s when you start losing track of what you’re trying to do here,” he said. “I’m here to get better and get reps in games. The opportunity to play every day is important. I missed a lot of games last year. I didn’t play a lot. They’re going to make decisions necessary to benefit me long term. I trust them completely.”
The power guy
Giants fans might know the least about Shaw, 24, who hit an organization-high 24 homers last season in 360 plate appearances and crushed 45 homers in his first two full pro seasons.
“I’ve always prided myself on being a better hitter than power hitter,” said Shaw, the 31st overall selection from Boston College in 2015, a pick the Giants gained as compensation for losing Pablo Sandoval to free agency.
Shaw is hitting .263 with eight homers and 19 RBIs at Sacramento, but he had 40 strikeouts in 99 at-bats, and that’s an area that needs addressing, even in this strikeouts-are-acceptable era, and he realizes it.
“I don’t ever want to put myself into that category, a power-strikeout guy,” said Shaw, who struck out 28 percent of the time last year, a more reasonable rate. “Strikeouts are not something I’m OK with, but there’s nothing I can do about the past. I’ve got to move forward, keep looking for my pitch and do what I should be doing with it.”
Shaw moved from first base to left field last year — Giants first baseman Brandon Belt is signed through 2021 — and improved his diet and lost weight to give him more agility in the outfield, which is nothing new for him, considering he played it in college.
Shaw concedes his growth is a work in progress and growing pains are inevitable, as was the case at Boston College when he hit .165 as a freshman but rebounded to hit .329 as a sophomore and hit home runs at a rapid pace as a junior before he broke his hand.
Progression remains the theme in pro ball.
“I don’t think I’m even scratching the surface of my potential at this point,” Shaw said. “Look at what Mac is doing right now. The J.D. Martinezes of the world, the Justin Turners. You don’t know when it’s going to click and you’ll be a force to be reckoned with.
“I know I’m going to hit. It’s something I have confidence in.”
The versatile guy
Slater played shortstop in high school, outfield at Stanford and second base in his first full pro season. Thursday night, he played first base for the first time since he was a child.
He’s mostly a corner outfielder but can play elsewhere in a pinch.
“I don’t care where I’m playing as long as I’m hitting,” Slater said. “My mentality is, I see myself as a hitter who plays defense, hopefully above-average defense. Whatever it takes to be in the lineup.”
An eighth-round pick in 2014, the 25-year-old doesn’t have Duggar’s speed or Shaw’s power but consistently has had high batting averages and showed last year in San Francisco he can hit big-league pitching.
Slater played for the Giants all of June but hurt his groin a week into July. He returned in September but played just five more games and underwent a sports-hernia surgery, which ended the plan for him to play winter ball in the Dominican Republic.
Asked about his consistency as a hitter, Slater said, “It’s going to be something I’ll have to keep working on. Buster (Posey), one of the best in the game, he’s still one of the first in the clubhouse every day. That’s something I saw when I was up there. Consistency doesn’t come from exceptional talent or unbelievable skill set, it’s putting in hard work every day.”
Slater took grounders at first in recent weeks, leading up to Thursday’s start there. He played all three outfield spots with the Giants (mostly in left) last season and also appeared in his first pro game at third base, all of three innings.
“I feel like I’m a guy who’s ready every day, and it doesn’t matter what position it is,” Slater said. “That versatility, I think, can come into use when a guy needs a break. That’s a way to work yourself into the lineup on a semi-regular basis until you prove you can play on a regular basis. That’s the mentality I have.”