San Francisco Giants Center Field Trade Options: Aaron Hicks

The San Francisco Giants’ front office wants to improve the outfield through the trade market, and there are some options to do so. Aaron Hicks is one.

After an extremely disappointing season in 2017, the San Francisco Giants have a lot of work to do to get back to respectability and contention in 2018. The team’s front office has made it clear that one of their top priorities is upgrading the outfield, particularly in center field. They have a plethora of options at their disposal on the trade market, one of whom is still playing in the postseason.

New York Yankees’ center fielder Aaron Hicks is a player the Giants should give serious consideration to as they attempt to greatly improve their outfield. Hicks, a 28-year-old that has extensive experience in all three outfield spots, is in his fifth big league season and playing in the postseason for the first time as he attempts to help the Yankees back to the World Series.

Hicks was a first-round pick (14th overall) by the Minnesota Twins back in 2008 out of Woodrow Wilson High in Long Beach, California. During his time in the minor leagues, he was considered one of the top prospects in baseball, ranking in Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus’ top-100 four times each between 2009 to 2013.

That faith from prospect rankings didn’t translate to much major league success early in his career, but 2017 was a breakout year offensively. In his second year with the Yankees, Hicks set career highs in just about every offensive category. Despite being limited to 88 games, Hicks hit personal bests in doubles (18), home runs (15), RBI (52), runs scored (54), walks (51), average (.266), on-base percentage (.372), and slugging percentage (.475). In addition, his wRC+ (127) and WAR (3.3) were career-bests.

Hicks is a switch-hitter, and has always had more success as a right-handed hitter, something the Giants need in their lineup. In 2017, he slashed .312/.389/.514 with a 140 wRC+ against left-handed pitchers, and .240/.363/.453 with 110 wRC+ against righties. In his career, his average and OBP are both about 30 points higher, and slugging percentage about 70 points higher as a right-handed hitter while hitting home runs more frequently.

Most importantly to San Francisco, Hicks is a great defender in center field. He would represent a massive upgrade over incumbent center fielder Denard Span, which has been pinpointed as a team priority this offseason.

Span was the worst defensive player at any position in baseball last year by defensive runs saved (-27), and one of the worst center fielders by UZR/150 (-8.7). Hicks blows those numbers out of the water. Hicks came in at 12 defensive runs saved as a center fielder (15 overall as an outfielder), ranking him in the top-five among center fielders. His UZR/150 was 13.5, ranking him third among center fielders that played at least 400 innings in the position.

Not only is Hicks a rangy center fielder, he brings a strong arm with him. Span has a notoriously weak throwing arm that does nothing to deter runners from taking extra bases, while Hicks can make runners think twice before trying to stretch that extra 90 feet. Hicks has 28 career outfield assists (22 coming from center field) in 446 games, and in 2016, had the strongest defensive throw over the entire season. He threw a 105.5 mph bullet to home plate, gunning down a runner attempting to tag up from third.

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Hicks is an arbitration eligible player, and has another year of eligibility beyond this one. If the Giants were to pull off this trade, they’d have Hicks for two seasons before he hits free agency. Though he has primarily played center field throughout his career, he’s also spent a fair amount of time in right field (121 games) and left field (57 games). So if a prospect, namely Steven Duggar, comes up and takes hold of the center field job, Hicks can move to a corner or become a utility outfielder.

Of course, there are some concerns with Hicks, as there are with every option. Despite a strong offensive showing in 2017, he doesn’t have a track record of success at the major league level. In his first four seasons, he owned a .223/.299/.346 slash-line, and had never posted a wRC+ at or above league average.

He has also had problems with injuries, and was limited to 88 games in 2017 because of two separate oblique injuries. A right oblique strain landed him on the disabled list in June and caused him to miss 39 games, while his left oblique sidelined him for over three weeks in September.

Hicks came back strong from the second injury, and is currently hitting .276 for the Yankees in the postseason. He hit a big home run off American League Cy Young favorite Corey Kluber in game two of the ALDS, and drove in five runs to help the Yankees come back from a 2-0 deficit and stun the Cleveland Indians.

The Yankees have a crowded outfield, and at-bats weren’t always easy to come by for Hicks. Aaron Judge locked himself into the right field job, while Hicks had to fight with Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner to see the field. Prospect Clint Frazier also turned himself into an option as a corner outfielder after debuting on July 1st.

Next: 5 Takeaways from Giants in 2017

There are risks with acquiring a player like Hicks, but there will be risks with trading for any player as they attempt to upgrade the outfield. The Giants will need to take some kind of risk if they want to put 2017 behind them and get back to where they expect to be in 2018.

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