Trends that are exciting, and others that should worry fans
The Giants thought Kevin Gausman, who posted a 4.26 ERA during the first eight seasons of his major league career, could be their tone-setter.
They wanted Gausman to start the season opener in Seattle because they felt he was their ace and deserved the chance to consider himself the leader of the pitching staff.
So far, so good.
In two outings this season, Gausman has thrown 13 2/3 innings, allowed nine baserunners and struck out 11 batters. His seven innings of one-run ball on Wednesday against the Padres set the Giants up to secure a series win on the road. While Gausman has a pair of no-decisions for his efforts, there’s no question he’s done everything in his power to position his team for success.
As we evaluate trends that have emerged through the Giants’ first six games, it’s important to highlight Gausman’s efforts and what he’s meant to a starting rotation that’s been a pleasant surprise for manager Gabe Kapler. The starters’ body of work tops our trends the Giants need to see continue, while an underperforming offense leads the list of trends the club needs to reverse as soon as possible.
Three positive trends
1. THE STARTING ROTATION HAS EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONS >> The Giants were obviously confident in Gausman, but it’s the pitchers behind him who entered the season with a lot of questions to answer. In the team’s first turn through the rotation, all five starters logged at least five innings and none gave up more than three runs, which is a major reason why the Giants were able to finish their first road trip 3-3.
The team’s lineup underperformed relative to expectations, but the starting rotation has been better than advertised as their 2.60 ERA ranks as the fifth-best mark in the majors through the first week of the season.
The most encouraging performances came from two of the pitchers with the most to prove as right-handers Anthony Desclafani and Aaron Sanchez each worked five innings of one-run ball against a tough San Diego lineup this week.
2. THE GIANTS ARE HITTING HOME RUNS LIKE AN ELITE OFFENSE >> Third baseman Evan Longoria has launched three home runs — all to right field — and appears to have recovered some of the bat speed that’s gone missing at times during his tenure with the Giants.
Buster Posey and Darin Ruf each have a pair of home runs as Posey slugged two in Seattle while Ruf came through with key drives to center field in San Diego. With Austin Slater, Brandon Crawford, Mike Yastrzemski and Alex Dickerson all on the board, the Giants have some good balance and a number of hitters have already cleared the mental hurdle that exists when they open the season with a home run drought.
The key for the Giants moving forward is hitting more timely home runs, as only two of their 11 homers (which is tied for the third-most in the majors) have come with runners on base. The high volume of solo shots is fluky, but it also highlights how much difficulty the Giants have had being consistent at the plate.
3. SAVE SITUATIONS ARE GOING WELL FOR THE GIANTS >> It was a mild surprise when the Giants signed free agent reliever Jake Mcgee in February, but it’s hard to imagine what the team’s bullpen would look like without him to this point in the season. The veteran left-hander was outstanding with the Dodgers last year and has been everything the Giants hoped he would be when they acquired him.
Mcgee has pitched four scoreless innings in four outings, recording two saves and his first win of the season on Wednesday after throwing a 1-2-3 ninth inning to send the rubber match against the Padres to extra innings. Mcgee did have a bit of a shaky outing on Monday in San Diego when he allowed two baserunners and battled command issues, but those two runners are the only ones he’s let reach this season.
When the Giants reached the 10th inning and held a lead on Wednesday, lefthander Wandy Peralta entered and calmly picked up his first career save. With a runner on third and one out, Peralta threw a devastating back-foot slider to pick up a key strikeout and shut the door with a flyout moments later.
Now that the Giants have a solution at the end of games, they have a lot of work to do to solidify their set-up options.
Three negative trends
1. THE GIANTS AREN’T GETTING ON BASE >> All of the home runs the Giants have hit are encouraging, but they’ve yet to run away with an easy win because the offense has struggled so much. After scoring a combined 14 runs in their first two games of the season, the Giants have scored seven over their past four as they had trouble against a tough San Diego rotation at Petco Park this week.
The Giants’ .268 on-base percentage is the sixth-lowest mark in the majors as a number of key hitters have yet to find a rhythm at the plate. Four lefties, Yastrzemski, Crawford, Dickerson and Brandon Belt, are the four Giants players with on-base percentages under .225, which has made finding success against righthanded pitching particularly difficult for the club this season.
Longoria, Posey, Ruf and Donovan Solano are all off to good starts so the Giants have fared well against lefties, but that’s not a broad enough group to carry the offense through a full season.
2. THE BULLPEN HAS ALREADY COST THE GIANTS >> Kapler and Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi spent a decent chunk of the spring talking up a bullpen with more veteran arms and more highleverage experience, but a group that was rebuilt during the offseason has mostly been a weakness for the club thus far.
Right-hander Matt Wisler has pitched four times, recorded five outs and given up six runs while lefties Jarlín García and José Álvarez have both had outings in which they haven’t been able to find the strike zone. Tyler Rogers gave up an eighth-inning, game-tying home run in Wednesday’s game and while Rogers has only allowed three homers in 50 career games, his submarine-style throwing motion often leads to awkward contact that can make the late innings a little more adventurous than fans would like.
After blowing a five-run lead in the opener allowing the Padres to capture a win on Tuesday behind a Victor Caratini home run off Wisler, there are some early concerns the Giants need to straighten out.
A 4.91 bullpen ERA ranks 20th in the majors, so there’s plenty of room for improvement.
3. THE GIANTS HAVE BAD STRIKEOUT-TO-WALK RATIOS >> As much as the bullpen was a topic of discussion this spring, the No. 1 point of emphasis for the Giants — both on the mound and at the plate — was controlling the strike zone.
Through six games, the Giants haven’t done a very good job.
Strikeouts aren’t the fearinducing stat they used to be for hitters, but the Giants have 65 through six games and only 18 walks, meaning that when they are grinding their way into deep counts, they don’t have much to show for it.
Their 29.0 strikeout % is the seventh-worst mark in the majors while their 8.0 walk% is the eighth-lowest, so cutting down on empty at-bats will be key moving forward.
On the mound, Giants pitchers have a 2.09 strikeout-to-walk ratio, which ranks as the seventh-worst mark in the league and far below where Kapler expects the club to be at the end of the year. Walks have been particularly troublesome for Giants relievers.