San Francisco Giants: What Went Wrong for Kelby Tomlinson in 2018
Kelby Tomlinson was dropped from the San Francisco Giants’ 40-man roster following a season in which many things went wrong.
The San Francisco Giants have already made some changes to their 40-man roster this offseason. They outrighted five players to make room for players come off the 60-day disabled list, and most notable among them was infielder Kelby Tomlinson. After four seasons with the Giants, Tomlinson was removed from the 40-man roster, and elected to become a free agent.
2018 wasn’t an easy season for Tomlinson. He experienced personal loss during the offseason and was optioned five times once the season began. When he was on the field in San Francisco, he didn’t look like the exciting, young utility player that provided sparks to the team in his first three seasons.
Tomlinson had career-lows in just about every category in 2018. His .207 average, .265 on-base percentage, and .264 slugging were all the worst marks of his career, as were his nine runs scored, nine walks, and zero stolen bases.
His strikeout rate was well above his career-rate entering the season, while his walks dropped fairly dramatically. He entered 2018 with a 17.5 percent strikeout rate in his career, and that jumped to 23 percent in 2018. A 9.1 percent walk rate from his first three seasons fell to 5.9 percent in 2018.
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Tomlinson had plenty of troubles with the fastball. In his first season, he hit .340 against heaters, and .256 between 2016 and 2017. That dropped all the way down to .194 in 2018, when he had 12 hits in 62 at-bats against the fastball. He also hit .313 (65-208) against left-handed pitchers in his first three seasons. He hit just .197 (14-71) against southpaws last year.
He wasn’t nearly as effective as a pinch-hitter, either. In 2017, Tomlinson had 13 hits in 44 at-bats (a .295 average) with five RBI as a pinch hitter, with his 13 pinch hits being the most by a Giant since Travis Ishikawa had 15 in 2010. In 19 such at-bats in 2018, he collected two hits (a .105 average) with one RBI.
Overall it was a season to forget for Tomlinson. He fell behind others like Alen Hanson and Chase d’Arnaud on the middle infield depth chart as the season wore on. Now that his last minor league option had been used up, it would have been more difficult to keep him on the major league roster next season, given how he’d continued to decline. With other younger players still owning options, namely Abiatal Avelino, it was easy to justify jettisoning Tomlinson from the 40-man roster.
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It’s still possible that Tomlinson returns as a minor league free agent, but it seems his days in San Francisco are just about over. He was a fun player that had some big moments, but in the end, it just didn’t work out.