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San Francisco Giants Mailbag: Belt, Maxwell, Cain, Peavy, Heston

By Maggie Pilloton

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Apr 21, 2015; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants right fielder Justin Maxwell (43) is greeted at home plate by catcher Andrew Susac (34) after hitting a two run RBI home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the eighth inning of their MLB baseball game at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Lance Iversen-USA TODAY Sports

Maxwell has been one of the best stories of the 2015 season so far. He entered Giants Spring Training as a long shot to even compete for a roster spot. With Pence’s injury and his impressive defense, his ability to get extra-base hits, and his patient approach at the plate, Maxwell earned a spot on the Opening Day roster.

So far in 2015, Maxwell is hitting .280 with a .400 on-base percentage, a .520 slugging percentage, one home run, and four RBI in 25 at-bats. It’s a small sample size, but Maxwell is continuing to display in the regular season the skills that he showed in Spring Training.

Maxwell had somewhat of a coming out party on Tuesday night against the Dodgers. In Tuesday’s game, he had several impressive catches in right field, he drew a walk, he scored three of the six runs, he hit a triple and a two-run home run, and he finished with two RBI on the night.

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    • Maxwell is doing everything he should right now to earn playing time. He’s getting extra-base hits, he’s playing spectacular defense, he’s getting clutch hits, he’s being smart at the plate, and he’s stepping up when others are struggling or injured.

    What about Gregor Blanco though? Blanco is hitting .225 right now with a .326 on-base percentage, .375 slugging percentage, no home runs, and one RBI in 40 at-bats.

    It makes sense why Bochy has been using a platoon with Maxwell (right-handed batter) and Blanco (left-handed batter). Maxwell is hitting .444 against lefties, but Blanco is hitting just .211 against righties, which makes some sense given his low batting average overall.

    If Maxwell continues to stay hot at the plate, I would keep him as the everyday right fielder until Pence comes back. There might be some matchups where Blanco has ownage or good statistics against a certain pitcher, and in that case, it’d make sense to start him on those days.

    As long as Maxwell is having good at-bats and accumulating hits though, he deserves to start regularly, as he’s shown more versatility offensively and has shown he can handle the challenges that right field at AT&T Park presents.

    Next: Winning with Heston and without Cain, Peavy

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