Mac Williamson Uses New Swing to Become PCL Player of the Week

Using a new swing and approach, Mac Williamson earned PCL Player of the Week for the first full week of action in Minor League Baseball.

Mac Williamson opened eyes in big league Spring Training with the San Francisco Giants this year, coming in with a revamped swing that led to great results. During the Cactus League, Williamson hit .318/.333/.727 with two doubles, two triples, four home runs, and 14 RBI.

The burly outfielder has taken that swing to Sacramento, and it’s been a revelation. He was named as the season’s first Pacific Coast League Offensive Player of the Week on Monday.

The 27-year-old Williamson is hitting .548/.659/1.129 though nine games, leading the PCL in all three triple-slash categories. He entered Monday leading the league with five home runs and tied for the lead with 14 RBI, but lost both to St. Louis Cardinals’€™ prospect Tyler O’€™Neill, who hit two home runs and drove in four runs in a day game on Monday.

Most impressively for Williamson are his walk and strikeout numbers. He isn’€™t striking out nearly as much as he had in the past, and is walking more. He entered 2018 with a career 24.9 percent strikeout rate in Triple-A, but has struck out just four times in 41 plate appearances. His current 17.1 percent walk rate is nearly 10 percentage points higher than his career 7.5 percent rate in Triple-A.

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Williamson hit his first home run of the year on April 6th, as part of a three-hit day. He followed that up with a two-hit game and then another three-hit game, then began a stretch of four consecutive games with a home run. That streak ended on Sunday night, but he still managed to pick up three hits in three at-bats, one a run-scoring hit, with two walks.

The Sacramento right fielder (he played left field for the first time this year on Sunday) has collected at least one hit in all nine games this season, and has driven in at least one run in each of his last eight games. He drove in multiple runs four times during that stretch.

Some of Williamson’s home runs have been very impressive. On Friday, the exit velocity of his 404-foot blast was 115 miles per hour (the hardest home run hit by a Giants’€™ big leaguer this season is 110 by Evan Longoria). On Saturday, he went 435 feet away with a 105 exit velocity.

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Of course, all of this comes with the obligatory “€œsmall sample size”€ caveat. However, this is an extremely promising start for a player who completely retooled their swing following a .244/.301/.423 performance in Triple-A last season. Couple that with the continued struggles of big league left fielder Hunter Pence, and Williamson should find his way back to San Francisco very soon.