The Giants have spent most of the 2018 season treading water, alternating from losing streak to winning streak seemingly weekly. Currently San Francisco sits one game above .500 (40-39) and five games out of first place in the NL West, as they await the return of star pitcher Johnny Cueto.
Though they have been able to withstand the injury bug up to this point, a .500 record is not going to cut it when it comes to making the postseason. Giants general manager Bobby Evans agrees, and told Gary & Larry one area the team must improve going forward if they are truly going to make some noise this season.
“We’ve got to get some consistency offensively from at least the bottom of our order and that comes right back to left field,” Evans said. “We’ve got to get some consistency and offensive production there. I think that’s a big part of it. I’ve been obviously, as everyone, pleased with our bench, and hope that continues to stabilize us when we have guys getting rest, but offensively we’d like to see some improvement there in left.
“That’s part of why we sent Mac down, part of the reason Hanson’s going to be playing more out there, part of the reason Slater’s up, so that hopefully we can stabilize more there.”
Speaking of left field, Hunter Pence had his first memorable moment of a disappointing 2018 season on Sunday, when he hit a walk-off, two-RBI double in the 11th inning to beat the Padres.
Of all the issues Pence has faced over the past few seasons, few have been as head scratching as his decreased power numbers. After belting 47 homers in 2013-14 combined, Pence hit 9, 13, and 13 in 2015, ’16, and ’17 respectively, and currently has zero in 100 plate appearances this year.
Evans tried to explain where all the power has gone.
“Pitching adjusts to hitters tendencies and I think that since he’s come back he’s taken some walks and some of that’s just the plate discipline. Pitchers expect that guys who are free swingers are going to be aggressive and when you start to show discipline which Hunter has in some cases, it does give you an opportunity to get more pitches to hit. But clubs are looking at not only the batting average, but they’re looking at the damage, the extra base hits, but they’re also looking at the tendencies at-bat to at-bat.
There’s a long track record for Hunter, and I think the challenges of swinging out of the zone — obviously we’ve seen Pablo make an adjustment — that’s helped his numbers and we’ve got to have hitters that are disciplined up there and I think that’s probably affected his power as much as anything. But age is going to affect power in this day-and-age. The way pitchers are throwing 95-plus and the breaking stuff and pitching backwards is happening more in the game than ever before, it’s causing all hitters to have to adjust to a new style of approach.”
All data in this piece was provided by Looker. Looker helps bring better insights and data-driven decisions to every business. To learn more about their product and platform, click here.
Listen to the full interview below. To hear Evans on the Giants roster, start from 13:40.