Evaluating the Giants’ grand outfield experiment
Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi made the organization’s plans for the 2020 season clear on Dec. 2, with a transaction that took fans by surprise.
Zaidi announced the Giants were cutting 2019 Willie Mac Award winner Kevin Pillar, the team’s co-home run leader, to clear opportunities for less experienced players.
“We feel like we a have an opportunity to provide some at-bats to some young guys who can be productive players and be in our uniforms for a long time,” Zaidi said at the time. “I think fans can and should be excited about those guys.”
The Giants didn’t think Pillar was worth the $9 million to $10 million the organization would have owed him and instead believed the franchise stood to benefit by committing to
unproven players who could play a more significant role in the team’s future.
When the Giants made their decision, they had Mike Yastrzemski in mind.
“It’s always great to have confidence from the manager and the front office, but it’s got to come from within,” Yastrzemski said. “You have to be willing to think I’m not guaranteed another day in the big leagues, you have to continue to fight for your spot, you have to continually prove that you’re earning it and you’re doing everything you can to improve and stay where you are.”
Yastrzemski is the only Giants player to start all 12 games this season, and he leads the majors with a 1.1 fWAR. His .643 slugging percentage suggests he’s driving the baseball even better than he did as a rookie when he hit 21 home runs, but it’s his .473 on-base percentage that reveals Yastrzemski’s greatest improvement this year.
The second-year outfielder, who turns 30 this month, drew 32 walks in 411 plate appearances last season. This summer, Yastrzemski has already walked 13 times in 55 plate appearances, giving him two more free passes than every other player in the majors so far.
“It was conversations that I had with Boch and Farhan, ways to improve the game, keep impacting the team and little things like (walks) that will not only help the team, but it helps your average if you’re not swinging at bad pitches and you’re getting more walks,” Yastrzemski said. “Just trying to manage that and trying to find the pitches we can do damage on.”
There’s little doubt the Giants have been rewarded by creating an opportunity for Yastrzemski to become an everyday player, but the rest of the team’s grand outfield experiment hasn’t been as successful.
Zaidi and manager Gabe
Kapler spoke throughout the offseason about Jaylin Davis’ potential to enjoy a breakout season and after Davis opened the year with six strikeouts in his first 12 at-bats, he was optioned to the team’s alternate camp in Sacramento.
Since reporting to Sutter Health Field, Davis has yet to convince the Giants they made the wrong decision by taking away big league at-bats.
“I think Jaylin is still right now struggling to find his rhythm and his consistency,” Kapler said Tues- day. “I think that’s true of his at-bats and of his work. Kyle and our hitting group are right on top of this and sometimes it takes a little bit longer for the confidence to get built up and Jaylin is still working through some things right now.”
Outside of Davis, the Giants also thought the 2020 season could be pivotal for a handful of other relatively inexperienced players hop- ing to break through as fulltime major leaguers.
Austin Slater has proven capable in a platoon role as he’s 3 for 7 against lefthanders this season, but the Giants so far have been reluctant to use him against righties as his career splits suggest he’s below average with a right-hander on the mound.
Kapler indicated Wednesday that could change soon.
“In Slater’s case, a lot of people in our clubhouse think he’s a really good fit to hit right-handed pitching right now as well,” Kapler said. “He’s in a really good state of mind, he’s in a good place to do that and I think there’s been some improvements with Slate on the baserunning and the defensive front as well.”
Steven Duggar began the season at the team’s alternate camp, but after regaining some rhythm at the plate, Duggar replaced Davis on the roster and knocked a two-run double off the top of the left field wall in Tuesday’s loss at Coors Field.
Duggar was billed as the Giants’ center fielder of the future when Bobby Evans
was the team’s general manager, but injuries and a high strikeout rate have prevented him from becoming more than a part-time player to this point in his career. At 26, Duggar realizes demonstrating a better eye and better contact skills at the plate are critical if he hopes to stand out among a crowd of outfielders fighting for chances.
“I think from the top, the guys that Farhan and Scott have brought in, the culture that’s been created here, it’s bred competition,” Duggar said. “You look across the outfield and the infield, we’ve got a lot of guys that can play baseball at a high level and have done it for a long time and I just think that’s bringing the best out of everybody.”
The Giants also opened the season planning to split time between Hunter Pence and Alex Dickerson in left field, which the organization thought would maximize the oft-injured Dickerson’s
effectiveness at the plate. The calculation hasn’t been wrong as Dickerson is 9 for 30 with two home runs, but Pence is off to a much slower start and only has one hit in 26 at-bats.
The final player the Giants wanted to see take hold of an outfield spot is rookie Mauricio Dubón, who is also mixing in at shortstop and second base as the organization thinks he can be a super utility player down the line. The goal for Dubón is to demonstrate competency in center field, in the middle infield and at the plate, but so far, Dubón has appeared overwhelmed in the field and is sporting a .269 onbase percentage in 26 plate appearances.
The Giants’ outfield experiment has yielded a mixed bag of results, but having one of their less experienced outfielders in Yastrzemski emerge as a reliable full-time starter has made it at least a partial success.
With 80% of the season left to play, a lot can still change.
ERRORS ARE A PROBLEM >> There’s one statistical category where the San Francisco Giants have every other team in the majors beat: Errors.
The Giants are throwing the ball away, missing routine grounders and misplaying flyballs at an alarming rate and there’s no question their defensive mistakes are ruining chances to compete.
With three errors in Tuesday’s 5-2 loss to the Colorado Rockies, firstyear manager Gabe Kapler’s team dropped to 5-7 and overtook the Kansas City Royals for the MLB lead in errors with 16.
“Our defense has to make plays behind our pitchers in order for them to really see the best possible results of their efforts,” Kapler said.
Shortstop Brandon Crawford, catcher Tyler Heineman and reliever Conner Menez all committed errors Tuesday in a game where San Francisco needed to play its cleanest baseball to have a chance against Rockies ace Germán Marquez.