San Francisco Giants Off-Day Notes: Belt, Gorkys, Former Giants

It’s an off-day, giving us time to reflect on some interesting San Francisco Giants notes, including a Player of the Week.

Brandon Belt was named the National League’s Player of the Week for his efforts against the Cincinnati Reds and Colorado Rockies over the past week. In seven games, the San Francisco Giants’ first baseman hit .444/.500/1.074 with five home runs, two doubles, and 11 RBI with a 323 wRC+. His last home run was the big one, breaking a 5-5 tie in the seventh inning against the Rockies’ vaunted bullpen. This is Belt’s second career Player of the Week honor, the first coming in August, 2013.
Gorkys Hernandez isn’t Player of the Week, but he put together a fantastic series against the Rockies. He had five hits, including a double and two home runs, and drove in four runs to help lead the Giants to a four-game split. Since June of 2017 began, Hernandez is hitting .290/.345/.392 with a 99 wRC+ in 324 plate appearances, making him roughly a league average hitter. For a guy that started the year as the fifth outfielder, those are excellent marks.
While Hernandez is playing his best ball, Gregor Blanco is doing just the opposite. During the month of May, Blanco is hitting .200/.250/.350 with a 64 wRC+ and has struck out in 27 of 64 plate appearances (42.2%). It’s not the Giants way of doing things to cut ties with Austin Jackson just a couple months into a multi-year deal, so Blanco might be the one playing his way off the team with a lot of roster moves coming soon.

How good has Will Smith been since returning? Normally it’s expected for there to be a re-adjustment period as players get their feet wet in the big leagues again, but not for Smith. He’s thrown eight innings and still has a clean ERA, with one unearned run being his lone blemish. He’s allowed just three hits and two walks, and has struck out 11 batters. Dating back to his fourth appearance after his return, Smith has retired 15 consecutive batters, eight via strikeout. His average fastball velocity this year (93.3) is actually better than 2016 (92.7), and his curveball and slider still look like the dangerous weapons they were before the injury.
How about some former Giants? There’s plenty to look at down in Tampa Bay, none more interesting than pitcher Sergio Romo. After 588 career relief appearances to start his big league career, Romo started a game on Saturday…and then he did it again on Sunday. This was done in an effort to get the right-handed specialist in the game early to face the dangerous Angels’ righties at the top of the order. It worked, with Romo racking up six strikeouts in 2.1 innings over both days.

On the hitting side down with the Rays, Matt Duffy is finally healthy and playing well. He’s hitting .328/.365/.438 with eight doubles, a pair of home runs, and 14 RBI. Denard Span has moved to left field, and leads Tampa Bay with 28 RBI. He’s also walked (25) more than he’s struck out (23) in 163 plate appearances. Christian Arroyo has three hits and three walks in his first three games up from Triple-A after really struggling at the highest level of the minors to start the year.

Over in Pittsburgh, reliever Kyle Crick is back in the big leagues and pitching well. In 13 games, he owns a 2.19 ERA and 1.297 WHIP over 12.1 innings. The walks are still a bit of an issue (4.4 per nine innings), but his strikeouts are way up (11.7 per nine). He made an appearance against the Giants earlier this year, throwing a scoreless inning with a hit allowed on May 11th.