San Francisco Giants: What a Difference a Year Makes at Third Base

The San Francisco Giants’ outlook at third base has taken a complete 180 over the past year, as question marks have turned into exclamation points.

Flash back to Spring Training 2015. After fruitless efforts to bring back their former third baseman and postseason hero, the San Francisco Giants entered camp with a quite hefty (pun maybe intended) dilemma on their hands. Pablo Sandoval thumbed his nose at the Giants, moving on to Beantown to become the new Red Sox third baseman and leaving San Francisco’s front office in search of his replacement.

In an effort to fill that role, the Giants swung a trade with the Miami Marlins to bring in Casey McGehee, a veteran at the hot corner coming off a very strong season. But despite being the 2015 National League Comeback Player of the Year, the man affectionately dubbed “Hits McGehee” was just one year removed from playing in Japan and didn’t exactly erase the question mark that hovered over third base for the Giants. As it turns out, McGehee couldn’t live up to his nickname with the Giants, hitting under .200 for much of his tenure with the orange and black.

Behind McGehee, there was the little known prospect Matt Duffy, who earned a cup of coffee stint in the Major Leagues at the end of the 2014 season despite having never been in a big league Spring Training and never playing above Double-A. He entered camp with the Giants in 2015 without a roster spot in hand, but played incredibly well during the exhibition season. His performance was so eye-catching that the Giants kept Duffy as the 25th man on the roster after earning the Barney Nugent Award, given to the most impressive first-year player in Giants’ big league camp.

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As the season began, Duffy’s role was as a utility infielder, giving starters the occasional rest day here and there. But as McGehee continued to struggle both at the plate and in the field, Duffy proved his Spring Training performance wasn’t a fluke. McGehee’s average floundered below the Mendoza line while Duffy’s hovered at or near the .300 mark, forcing the brass to make a difficult decision. Despite the team’s tendency to stick with struggling veterans in hopes they can turn it around, the Giants designated McGehee for assignment on May 23rd after a double-header, effectively handing the starting job to the young upstart Duffy.

Duffy struggled at first in his new role as an everyday player, maybe trying to do more than what he could, but the downturn didn’t last long. Soon enough, Duffy’s great approach to all fields returned and he became the Duffy that forced the issue and made the Giants make the move. Even when McGehee returned to the big leagues a few weeks later, he could not do enough to supplant Duffy, who would soon become the team’s number-three hitter and would help keep the team afloat as player after player around him went down with various injuries.

After barely cracking the opening day roster, and not becoming the starter until nearly two months into the season, Duffy went on to win the team’s Willie Mac Award, becoming the first rookie to ever earn that prestigious award, and finished second in NL Rookie of the Year voting to one of the most highly-touted rookies in recent memory, Kris Bryant of the Chicago Cubs.

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Now hop back in the time machine and come back to Spring Training 2016. Just one year has made an incredible difference for the Giants at third base. McGehee is gone, and Duffy isn’t competing for a job anymore. He’s no longer an unknown commodity, a player whose role is amorphic. The now 25-year-old should be close to a household name (although there may be some confusion with the Houston Astros’ Matt Duffy, also a rookie in 2015).

While Duffy is the unquestioned starter at third base, other players have taken Duffy’s 2015 position, battling through Spring Training in an effort just to make the opening day roster. Duffy has a firm hold on his job, and has a lot of expectations around him as part of the team’s exciting, young, homegrown infield crew. As the Giants enter the season with high expectations as a team, Duffy will be a key cog as the team looks to achieve their goal of winning their fourth straight even year World Series.

Next: Clayton Blackburn Won't Be Gone For Long

There is no longer a question mark written in pencil over the third base position for the Giants. Instead, there is only Matt Duffy’s name, written in permanent marker. Good luck erasing that.

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