San Francisco Giants: Comparing Hitters to Last Season
The season is nearing the 1/3rd point, which fewer than 10 games to go until that point is reached. This seems like a great time to compare San Francisco Giants’ hitter statistics this season to the same point last year. With 45 games in the books, let’s see how they stack up to the same point last season.
Note that this is a comparison of hitters in the team’s first 45 games, not the hitter’s first 45 games.
2017: .236/.355/.452, 8 HR, 8 2B, 25.8% K-rate, 15.6% BB-rate, 117 wRC+
2018: .305/.404/.583, 10 HR, 10 2B, 24.2% K-rate, 13.5% BB-rate, 170 wRC+
2017 got off to a somewhat sluggish start for the Giants’ first baseman. The power was still there for Belt, but he wasn’t coming up with as many hits. He was still well above being a league-average hitter though, thanks in part to a high walk-rate and plenty of extra-base hits.
This year, Belt is walking slightly less often but also striking out slightly less often. The extra-base hits are coming even more quickly this year, and he’s already more than halfway to matching his career-high in home runs (18 in 2015 and 2017). All three triple-slash numbers have taken huge jumps, and his wRC+ is one of the best figures in the National League. All told, Belt has been one of the most dangerous hitters in the league this year.
2017: .207/.281/.207, 0 XBH, 30 wRC+, 3 SB, 23% K-rate, 29.0 f/s sprint speed
2018: .262/.307/.364, 7 XBH, 87 wRC+, 3 SB, 27.2 K-rate, 28.6 f/s sprint speed
Blanco started 2017 in the minor leagues, and didn’t make it up to Arizona until their 30th games. He was clearly not very good in the short time between game 30 and game 45. This season, though, Blanco has been a pretty effective hitter for San Francisco. He’s been pressed into a role that he should not be in because of injuries in left field, but has, at the very least, done a good enough job. His sprint speed has taken a slight hit, but is still rather impressive for a 34-year-old, and is second-best on the team. On the downside, Blanco is striking out 27 percent of the time, the highest rate of his career.
2017: .274/.306/.451, 9 2B, 3 HR, 97 wRC+, 17.4% K-rate, 31.9% oppo%
2018: 291/.325/.424, 9 2B, 3 HR, 102 wRC+, 23.9% K-rate, 28.0% oppo%
Crawford missed some time early in 2017 on the bereavement and disabled lists, but was an effective, albeit ever so slightly below league-average, hitter when he was on the field.
His numbers in 2018 look very good, but it’s really been a tale of two months for him. He was abysmal in April (.189/.237/.300, 41 wRC+, five XBH in 27 games), but has legitimately been one of the hottest hitters in baseball since the calendar flipped to May. He ranks in the top-10 in baseball in hits, doubles, wRC+, and OPS for the month. But in what is a theme for many Giants’ hitter, he’s striking out well above his career norm.
Miguel Gomez didn’t appear within the team’s first 45 games last season, and has only appeared three times this season.
2017: .196/.229/.283, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 2 SB, 31 wRC+, 48 PA
2018: .298/.346/.638, 4 HR, 12 RBI, 3 SB, 165 wRC+, 52 PA
Before a hamstring injury put Hanson on the disabled list, he was having the best month of his career by far, both by wRC+ (172) and OPS (1.015). He had been a big shot in the arm for the team at second base following Panik’s injury, but became the latest member of the disabled list.
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2017: .169/.245/.225, 0 HR, 5 2B, 20 wRC+
2018: .270/.295, 251, 2 HR, 0 2B, 79 wRC+
Hernandez was one of the absolute worst hitters in baseball in the first couple months last season, but has been a lot less bad this season. He’s still not great, but has found enough power to hit two more home runs than he did all last season, even if he doesn’t have a double or triple. Hernandez is another guy who’s played more than he’s supposed to because of injuries.
2017: .240/.263/.373, 64 wRC+, 0 HR, 10 2B, 36.2 % hard-hit rate
2018: .284/.324/.522, 130 wRC+, 4 HR, 4 2B, 48.0% hard-hit rate
Hundley was one of the team’s leaders in doubles at this point last year, but has hit for a bit more than doubles power this season. He’s already left the yard four times, and overall has hit the ball hard just about every chance he’s had. His hard-hit rate is 16th-best in baseball among players with at least 60 plate appearances, and second-highest on the Giants.
2017: .273/.368/.485, 127 wRC+, 21.1% K-rate (.261/.370/.565, 144 wRC+ vs. LHP)
2018: .236/.317/.292, 71 wRC+, 35 % K-rate (.250/.338/.283, 74 wRC+ vs. LHP)
Jackson’s 2017 numbers only reflect 12 games played to this point in the year, because of an injury and much time spent in a straight platoon. For the Giants, Jackson has been the most disappointing offseason acquisition. He hasn’t lived up to his status as lefty-killer and is also striking out at the worst rate in his career, but he has been hitting the ball better lately (.273/.429/.394 in May).
2017: .254/.320/.428, 12 2B, 6 HR, 9.3% BB-rate, 98 wRC+
2018: .250/.276/.476, 13 2B, 8 HR, 2.9% BB-rate, 105 wRC+
Longoria got his Giants’ career off to an embarrassing 0-15, but has become a big power threat in the middle of the lineup since. Despite moving from the hitter-friendly AL East to the NL West, he’s hitting for more power this year than he did last year. The walk-rate is nearly non-existent, but after how bad Giants’ third basemen were offensively in 2017, they’ll take the good with the bad.
2017: .206/.279/.370, 6 HR, 7 2B, 70 wRC+, 32.6% hard-hit rate
2018: .244/.357/.385, 3 HR, 11 2B, 112 wRC+, 49.1% hard-hit rate
McCutchen is known as a slow starter, but his slow start this year hasn’t really been entirely his fault. He’s making good contact at a fantastic rate with his hard-contact rate ranking fourth among qualified hitters in baseball. On the plus side, McCutchen is taking walks at his best rate since 2015 (also his last All-Star year), and he leads the team in walks (no easy feat with Belt on the team). He hasn’t fully hit his stride yet this year, but much like Longoria, it’s still a big improvement over what the team got in 2017.
2017: .255/.308/.333, 71 wRC+, 1 HR, 11.8% K-rate
2018: .267/.323/.389, 100 wRC+, 3 HR, 6% K-rate
Panik got off to a roaring start this year, but was fairly cold in the couple weeks before his injury. Still, this is a big loss for the team.
2017: .243/.289/.338, 6 XBH, 67 wRC+, 20.8% K-rate, 12% soft-hit rate
2018: .172/.197/.190, 1 XBH, -1 wRC+, 36.1% K-rate, 32.4% soft-hit rate
Yes, that’s a negative one wRC+ for Pence this year. Ouch.
2017: .362/.441/.559, 168 wRC+, 4 2B, 7 HR
2018: .301/.369/.421, 123 wRC+, 10 2B, 2 HR
The power still isn’t there for Posey, and it may never come back, but he’s such a good hitter in other ways. His numbers are certainly not on par with the same point in 2017, but he still leads all qualified catchers in batting average. He also hasn’t yet gone on one of those typical Posey runs where he looks like the greatest hitter that ever lived, either.
2017: .213/.269/.377, 65 wRC+, 3 HR, 10 RBI, 7.5% BB-rate
2018: .270/.329/.429, 110 wRC+, 2 HR, 12 RBI, 8.6% BB-rate
Sandoval was limited to 17 games at this point last year, but has become one of the Giants’ nicest surprises in the early-going of 2018. He’s been excellent off the bench and as a spot-starter on the corner infield positions. His walk-rate also represents the best mark of his career since 2012.
Similar to Gomez, Slater didn’t appear in the team’s first 45 games last season and has only appeared six times this year.
2017: .240/.269/.240, 39 wRC+, 0 2B, 1 RBI
2018: .243/.309/.297, 74 wRC+, 4 2B, 7 RBI
At this point in 2017, Tomlinson had made 15 appearances. He’s come up with a few big hits here and there in 2018, but Tomlinson hasn’t hit very well in a limited role to this point.
Next: 3 Up, 3 Down: Beating Reds
2017: .167/.286/.167, 20 wRC+, 0 HR, 33.3% K-rate
2018: .316/.316/.789, 201 wRC+, 3 HR, 15.8% K-rate
Those five games sure were something special, weren’t they?