Game Thread: 4/24 Gnats @ Bleeeech

[LHG]

4 out of 5, vs legit teams...Mac has lit a fire under the team and the pitching has stayed extremely good. And still no Smith, Bum, Melancon. Feeling excited (even though we are 11-12)

Assuming Mac continues to play well and nails down the left field job, what happens with Shaw? Does the team trade Shaw? Do they trade Williamson to make room for Shaw?

 

[msgkings322]

Assuming Mac continues to play well and nails down the left field job, what happens with Shaw? Does the team trade Shaw? Do they trade Williamson to make room for Shaw?

Good problem to have. Let's wait for Mac to get to 100+ ABs. Pitchers will start to adjust to him, will he adjust back?

 

[SFGRTB]

The thing with Mac has always been consistent PT. The Giants have jimmy-jacked him often since 2016, and only twice has received consistent AB's (right now is the third time).

In 2016 he played 54 games. He was called up 4 times that year and in one stretch he played 34 of the 54 games. The other 3 he was not a regular player.

In that 34 game span, he hit .256/.365/.500 with 6 homers and 14 RBI in 96 plate appearances.

In 2017 he played in 28 games. He was called up 3 times, and didn't get consistent time until September, where he hit .306/.342/.528 with 2 homers and 2 RBI in 38 plate appearances in 16 games.

Including his current 6-game stretch, that's 56 games with a .277/.353/.511 line, with 11 homers in 147 PAs, 137 ABs.

You look at his career line and it's drastically different. But when the kid has gotten consistent AB's, he's produced. Right now he's on an absolute tear, and looks like a different player. But he's still done this before.

 

[calsnowskier]

Assuming Mac continues to play well and nails down the left field job, what happens with Shaw? Does the team trade Shaw? Do they trade Williamson to make room for Shaw?

Assuming all goes well (Mac continues to hit and nails down the job and Shaw begins to push the issue in Sacto), no chance in hell they trade either. They will just let Cutch walk next year and move Mac to right and insert Shaw in left.

We still have Duggar and Slater who are legit prospects and damn near ready to start a season well. Because of that, MAYBE they package one of those guys for a 5th starter, but I am not even sure that is needed.

 

[LHG]

The thing with Mac has always been consistent PT. The Giants have jimmy-jacked him often since 2016, and only twice has received consistent AB's (right now is the third time).

In 2016 he played 54 games. He was called up 4 times that year and in one stretch he played 34 of the 54 games. The other 3 he was not a regular player.

In that 34 game span, he hit .256/.365/.500 with 6 homers and 14 RBI in 96 plate appearances.

In 2017 he played in 28 games. He was called up 3 times, and didn't get consistent time until September, where he hit .306/.342/.528 with 2 homers and 2 RBI in 38 plate appearances in 16 games.

Including his current 6-game stretch, that's 56 games with a .277/.353/.511 line, with 11 homers in 147 PAs, 137 ABs.

You look at his career line and it's drastically different. But when the kid has gotten consistent AB's, he's produced. Right now he's on an absolute tear, and looks like a different player. But he's still done this before.

My one concern about him is that his lack of patience seems more pronounced. Granted, why wait for a free pass when you can park one in the right field bleachers on a regular basis but what happens when he can't drive a ball for a week or two? I'd like to see some more walks (he's yet to drive one since coming up) but maybe that is splitting hairs right now.

 

[msgkings322]

Assuming all goes well (Mac continues to hit and nails down the job and Shaw begins to push the issue in Sacto), no chance in hell they trade either. They will just let Cutch walk next year and move Mac to right and insert Shaw in left.

We still have Duggar and Slater who are legit prospects and damn near ready to start a season well. Because of that, MAYBE they package one of those guys for a 5th starter, but I am not even sure that is needed.

It would be weird and awesome if the Giants go from never developing a legit OF to bringing up 3 or 4

 

[LHG]

Assuming all goes well (Mac continues to hit and nails down the job and Shaw begins to push the issue in Sacto), no chance in hell they trade either. They will just let Cutch walk next year and move Mac to right and insert Shaw in left.

We still have Duggar and Slater who are legit prospects and damn near ready to start a season well. Because of that, MAYBE they package one of those guys for a 5th starter, but I am not even sure that is needed.

I like that. Completely forgot that Williamson can play right field. It would be great to see a 4 man outfield, all completely homegrown, doing well in SF. What a change that would be from the last 30+ years.

 

[calsnowskier]

It would be weird and awesome if the Giants go from never developing a legit OF to bringing up 3 or 4

They had to let Parker walk because of the logjam. Not even room for him in AAA.

That is so weird.

 

[SFGRTB]

My one concern about him is that his lack of patience seems more pronounced. Granted, why wait for a free pass when you can park one in the right field bleachers on a regular basis but what happens when he can't drive a ball for a week or two? I'd like to see some more walks (he's yet to drive one since coming up) but maybe that is splitting hairs right now.

His walk rate has steadily declined in recent years, which is certainly a red flag, and there's still swing and miss in his game. If he can get it up to 8%, I'd be okay with that so long as he continues to park balls.

Right now, I think his mindset (and the coaches mindset) is to keep on swinging while it's going good.

 

[SFGRTB]

Assuming all goes well (Mac continues to hit and nails down the job and Shaw begins to push the issue in Sacto), no chance in hell they trade either. They will just let Cutch walk next year and move Mac to right and insert Shaw in left.

We still have Duggar and Slater who are legit prospects and damn near ready to start a season well. Because of that, MAYBE they package one of those guys for a 5th starter, but I am not even sure that is needed.

This is why I liked the Cutch trade a lot.

It's still REALLY early, but the Giants traded from a position of strength (minor league OF and minor league relief) and filled an immediate need at the big league level, but didn't ball-and-chain themselves.

They have options next year.

 

[msgkings322]

His walk rate has steadily declined in recent years, which is certainly a red flag, and there's still swing and miss in his game. If he can get it up to 8%, I'd be okay with that so long as he continues to park balls.

Right now, I think his mindset (and the coaches mindset) is to keep on swinging while it's going good.

Exactly. If I was an opposing pitcher I would not throw him strikes, see if he chases.

 

[stanford the manford]

good day for me.... broke 90, stanford, giants, and warriors all win

 

[calsnowskier]

We have talked about this in the past, but it looks to continue to happen...

How in the hell do the Giants continue to pull up legit, all-star level players out of their minors without even us prospect hawks seeing it coming?

Crawford was expected, but no one thought he would be what he has become.

Panik was expected to be little more than a good utility player when he made the jump. Then he got an opportunity at consistant PT and the rest was history.

Duffy was a prospect-hound favorite, but everything he did, from SJ on, was basically gravy.

Now Mac resurrects himself from the embers of his burnt career to come with some actually legit heat and lofty expectations (and delivering so far).

That is a pretty decent track record for a barren wasteland.

 

[msgkings322]

We have talked about this in the past, but it looks to continue to happen...

How in the hell do the Giants continue to pull up legit, all-star level players out of their minors without even us prospect hawks seeing it coming?

Crawford was expected, but no one thought he would be what he has become.

Panik was expected to be little more than a good utility player when he made the jump. Then he got an opportunity at consistant PT and the rest was history.

Duffy was a prospect-hound favorite, but everything he did, from SJ on, was basically gravy.

Now Mac resurrects himself from the embers of his burnt career to come with some actually legit heat and lofty expectations (and delivering so far).

That is a pretty decent track record for a barren wasteland.

Again, I'm waiting for Mac to get 100+ ABs before I decide he's an 'all-star level' player

 

[LHG]

The thing with Mac has always been consistent PT. The Giants have jimmy-jacked him often since 2016, and only twice has received consistent AB's (right now is the third time).

In 2016 he played 54 games. He was called up 4 times that year and in one stretch he played 34 of the 54 games. The other 3 he was not a regular player.

In that 34 game span, he hit .256/.365/.500 with 6 homers and 14 RBI in 96 plate appearances.

In 2017 he played in 28 games. He was called up 3 times, and didn't get consistent time until September, where he hit .306/.342/.528 with 2 homers and 2 RBI in 38 plate appearances in 16 games.

Including his current 6-game stretch, that's 56 games with a .277/.353/.511 line, with 11 homers in 147 PAs, 137 ABs.

You look at his career line and it's drastically different. But when the kid has gotten consistent AB's, he's produced. Right now he's on an absolute tear, and looks like a different player. But he's still done this before.

We have talked about this in the past, but it looks to continue to happen...

How in the hell do the Giants continue to pull up legit, all-star level players out of their minors without even us prospect hawks seeing it coming?

Crawford was expected, but no one thought he would be what he has become.

Panik was expected to be little more than a good utility player when he made the jump. Then he got an opportunity at consistant PT and the rest was history.

Duffy was a prospect-hound favorite, but everything he did, from SJ on, was basically gravy.

Now Mac resurrects himself from the embers of his burnt career to come with some actually legit heat and lofty expectations (and delivering so far).

That is a pretty decent track record for a barren wasteland.

Again, I'm waiting for Mac to get 100+ ABs before I decide he's an 'all-star level' player

I'm with SFGRTB on this. Williamson responded well when he played regularly but the club often didn't give him that chance and judged him based on his response to lack of playing time. I've long wanted to see him get a good chance and I think he's finally getting that (about two years later than I wanted but I'll take it).

msgkings322 is correct, let's wait out 100+ ABs to see where he lands but I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility to have him put at least 5 solid years in as an everyday player. I just hope he doesn't forget how to draw a walk, especially when his bat goes cold or when the inevitable adjustment comes and pitchers start throwing a lot more out of the zone against him.

 

[calsnowskier]

Again, I'm waiting for Mac to get 100+ ABs before I decide he's an 'all-star level' player

Of course.

But “experts” have looked at his changes and like them. This change in his level of success is not completely arbitrary. It is 100% tied to very distinct changes in his approach.

 

[calsnowskier]

Even if he plateaus at a Mark Trombo-type player, I think that is a good pull from the system. Especially from a guy who was next to written off.

 

[SFGRTB]

Even if he plateaus at a Mark Trombo-type player, I think that is a good pull from the system. Especially from a guy who was next to written off.

Absolutely

 

[SF11704]

I just hope that the organization shows some patience with it's youngsters. I just haven't seen it so far. They seem to always lean to the aging vets rather than see what the kids have to offer. That was pretty clear last year.
Living in NY I got to see the Aaron Judge show. When he first came up in 2016. He had a rather short run. 30ish games or so. He went down with an injury. But at that time he was really struggling. Looked very similar to Mac the first few times we had him up.

The difference was 2017. They handed him the position and let him go .... the rest is history ... ROY year. I think Mac has quite a bit of the same potential but they need to let him work his way up to it. I love Bochy for the 3 rings but I'm not so sure about how he handles kids. IMHO he always tends to fall back to his vets if given the option.

If we look like contenders in July and Mac is still in the OF and he starts to struggle ....

 

[calsnowskier]

I just hope that the organization shows some patience with it's youngsters. I just haven't seen it so far. They seem to always lean to the aging vets rather than see what the kids have to offer. That was pretty clear last year.
Living in NY I got to see the Aaron Judge show. When he first came up in 2016. He had a rather short run. 30ish games or so. He went down with an injury. But at that time he was really struggling. Looked very similar to Mac the first few times we had him up.

The difference was 2017. They handed him the position and let him go .... the rest is history ... ROY year. I think Mac has quite a bit of the same potential but they need to let him work his way up to it. I love Bochy for the 3 rings but I'm not so sure about how he handles kids. IMHO he always tends to fall back to his vets if given the option.

If we look like contenders in July and Mac is still in the OF and he starts to struggle ....

Not sure 2017 is a good example to hang your hat on for this tendency. The minors were decimated by injuries which prevented the Giants from using the season for open tryouts. Mac was hurt every time there was an opportunity for him to get PT.

Watching him last night makes me understand why he is constantly hurt. Dude has zero concern for his own wellbeing on the field. He LITERALLY put his life on the line for that game last night. No exaggeration.