San Francisco Giants: Notable Statistics from the 2018 Season
Taking a look back at some notable statistics, some good and some bad, from the San Francisco Giants’ season in 2018
A number of San Francisco Giants’ young pitchers set career-highs in innings pitched over a full season. Most notable was Dereck Rodriguez, who just completed his fourth full season as a pitcher after converting from the outfield. He threw 168.2 innings between AAA and San Francisco, 25 more than his previous high. Andrew Suarez followed a similar pattern, tossing 183.2 innings across all levels, an 18-inning jump.
In the bullpen, Reyes Moronta was a bright spot as he developed into a great weapon for Bruce Bochy. He threw 65 innings, all in the big leagues, six more than he threw back in 2016. Ray Black accomplished a big goal by staying healthy for a full season, and he threw 59 innings between the majors and minors. That’s 24 innings more than he threw in 2014, his first pro season.
Making a lot of appearances is nothing new for veteran lefty Tony Watson. He made 72 appearances out of the Giants’ bullpen, crossing 70 for the fifth straight season, the longest active streak in the MLB. Watson also had his best strikeout season in his first year with the Giants. He set new personal bests by striking out 9.8 batters per nine innings, and 27.6% of batters he faced. His 1.9 walks per nine innings and 5.4% walk-rate were both the lowest he’s posted since 2014.
Another pitcher that experienced his best strikeout year in his debut campaign with San Francisco was Derek Holland. He struck out just under a batter per inning (8.9 K/9) and 23.3% of batters faced, both the highest marks of his career. That led to an excellent bounceback season for Dutch. After posting a 6.20 ERA and 1.711 WHIP with the White Sox in 2017, those numbers dropped to 3.57 and 1.290, respectively, in 2018.
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Madison Bumgarner wasn’t so successful with his command after coming back from a broken pinky. He struck out 7.6 per nine, and 19.8% of batters faced, both his worst since his rookie year in 2010. His walks went up while his strikeouts went down. He walked three per nine innings and 7.8% of batters, both the worst of his career (although still very respectable).
Sam Dyson had an excellent season out of San Francisco’s bullpen. He struck out 7.2 per nine and 20.5% of batters, both his best since 2015. He remained a dangerous groundball pitcher at the same time. Though his 61.3% groundball rate is a tick down from his career norm, it was still good enough for sixth-best among qualified relievers. Over half of his outs were recorded via the groundball, and he induced 13 double plays, fifth-most among relief pitchers. Considering Dyson’s Spring Training (10 runs in eight innings) and the first few outings of the year, it was a highly successful season.
Dyson was a big contributor to a San Francisco staff that benefited from 139 double plays grounders, the most in the National League. Rookie Andy Suarez was the lead dog in that category, inducing 22 twin killings to finish sixth in baseball and first among rookies.
Ty Blach was no slouch in the category, either. A year after getting 22 double plays, he forced 18 more this season, tied for 10th-most in baseball despite spending a big chunk of the year in the bullpen. The crafty southpaw also saw a jump in his strikeouts after being pulled out of the rotation. As a starting pitcher, Blach struck out 4.9 per nine and 12.9% of batters. As a reliever, those numbers jumped to 6.7 K/9 and 17.8%.
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Offensively, Joe Panik remained one of the game’s most difficult players to strike out. His 7.7% strikeout rate was second-lowest among players that accumulated at least 300 plate appearances this season, behind only the Angels’ Andrelton Simmons (7.3%). It was his fourth straight such season, the longest streak by a Giant since Omar Vizquel had four straight years from 2005 to 2008. Only three pitchers were able to punch Panik out twice: Arizona’s Archie Bradley; Milwaukee’s Chase Anderson; and the Dodgers’ Pedro Baez. He hasn’t had a hat trick since May 7th, 2016, the only three-strikeout game of his career.
The Giants as a team, however, had the fifth-highest strikeout rate in baseball at 24%, a 4.4% jump from last season. They didn’t hit for nearly enough power to make up for it, finishing 29th out of 30 teams in home runs (133) and slugging percentage (.368). They also didn’t get on base enough, either, finishing 25th in walk rate (7.3%) and 28th in OBP (.300). It was a disaster of a season.
There weren’t many offensive highlights, but rookie Aramis Garcia’s late-season call-up was a nice surprise. He hit .286/.308/.492 in 65 plate appearances, with four home runs, a double, and nine RBI. He hit three home runs in September, which led the Giants. His 31 strikeouts (47.7%) were an eyesore, but the Giants will take that bad with the good from a player who spent just 10 games at AAA.
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Finally, Steven Duggar wasn’t in the big leagues for a long time, but he made a great first impression. He was good for four defensive runs saved in just 345.2 innings and made a number of impressive plays, proving himself to be the team’s best defensive center fielder in a long time. He also came up with some big hits, and was the fastest guy on the team according to sprint speed (28.9 feet per second).