Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports
If Daniel Robertson wants to get on Giants fans’ good side, a friendship with Matt Duffy will see him off to a nice start.
Robertson got his first start Wednesday, the righty hitter filling in at shortstop for Brandon Crawford against a lefty in Colorado. This weekend he figures to make his Oracle Park debut, which he referred to in a text to Matt as “The House That Duffy Built.”
The two overlapped in Tampa, where Robertson came up and with whom Duffy played in 2016 and 2018-19. Once Robertson heard he was traded from the Rays — he came over Aug. 23 for cash considerations or a player to be named later after being designated for assignment — he texted Duffy, the beloved former Giant, whom he’s “really close” with.
“Talk about a guy who perfects his craft and knows what he’s doing mentally and physically,” Robertson said over a Zoom call this week. “…I credit Matt Duffy for a lot of my success in 2018 with the Rays. He really solidified a really good mental approach for me, and I still talk to him just about every week, via text message now.”
The Giants’ latest reclamation project is a former top prospect — a first-round pick in 2012 by Farhan Zaidi’s A’s — who looked like he was living up to the hype in ’18, when he slashed .262/.382/.415 with nine home runs in 87 games, in which he demonstrated he could play everywhere — he mostly manned short and second, but also saw time at third and in left field.
He struggled the following season, though, hitting just .202 through his first 59 games before being optioned to the minors and then needing arthroscopic knee surgery in June. He said he had been playing through the knee pain for a while but tried to fight through it, an attempt to prove himself in the majors.
“When you have something like that, it kind of wears on you a little bit mentally,” said the 26-year-old, who’s from Southern California. “You start pressing a little bit, anxiety starts creeping in. Look, I put myself through some situations that, hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have.”
He returned and played better in September, then worked last offseason on tweaking his swing with Doug Latta, a private hitting instructor best known for helping Justin Turner break out (and locally known for his work with ex-Giant Mac Williamson, whom Robertson said he saw plenty of at the facility). Robertson arrived at the alternate site in Sacramento and was pleased to learn the Giants share philosophies with Latta.
After being stuck at the Rays’ alternate site all season, the transition period to the Giants has been fairly seamless.
“It just makes you feel comfortable when everyone’s kind of on the same page and you’re looking for the same things in a swing,” he said. “Getting back to Daniel Robertson 2018 is the goal. I think being banged up and not having a backside kind of derailed me a little bit last year. Just happy for an opportunity.”
It’s an opportunity to learn some shortstop defense from Crawford, whose brain he said he’ll pick. And to play with Evan Longoria again, the two pals from the Rays. He said he got some looks in the outfield in Sacramento, which gives Gabe Kapler another option.
And an opportunity to play in The House That Duffy Built.
“Sometimes I feel like you’ve got to fail to kind of get you kick-started again and get you going, and that’s what happened,” said Robertson, whose failure led him to the Giants, who hope they have found something.