MLB: 1. Gorkys Hernandez/Mac Williamson/Austin Slater/Chris Shaw. At this point, LF is essentially an open position. I would say the Giants will definitely make upgrading it priority, but they are in the same boat with CF and RF which may come first on their offseason to-do list. Of the currently rostered players, I still think Mac is the most likely to have a breakout season and hit 30+ HR's at some point. He's out of options, so he's going to have to grab the position in spring training or have his breakout with another organization.
AAA: Dylan Davis has "light-tower" power but it comes with severe contact issues. Jacob Heyward spent most of 2018 with A+ San Jose and got a brief late season promo to Sacramento.
AA: Empty.
A+: Heath Quinn bounced back from a terrible 2917 with nice numbers in his second stint with San Jose. He's a big guy with plenty of power potential who also seems to be able to hit for average. Should take the Richmond Challenge in 2019.
Low A: Ismael Munguia is a scrapper who profiles as more of a 5'th OF type. Malique Ziegler is more of a CF type but seems to have serious stamina issues and is unlikely to hit for enough power for LF.
Short Season: Diego Rincones had a tremendous season for Salem-Keizer. He'll have to prove it tougher hitting environment like probably Augusta next year, but he looks like he may have enough bat for LF.
Rookie AZL: Kwan Adkins and Randy Norris were college draftees who made their pro debut in rookie ball with mixed results. They both seem like leadoff/speed types which is not necessarily what you want in a LF. Undrafted FA Tyler Flores seemed to have some pop in his bat and Zander Clarke has intriguing size at 6'5", 225 lbs. All 4 mentioned players are major projects at best.
DSL: Neither Luigi Pichardo nor Jose Hernandez showed much stick in their DSL debuts. I doubt we'll be seeing either in Arizona in 2019.
Free Agents: Michael Brantley the oft-injured LF for the Indians and Carlos Gonzalez who is a bit of a Coors Field marvel and appears to be seriously into the downside of his career head a very mediocre LF FA crop. If the Giants want to upgrade the position, it will likely have to be by trade
Summary: LF has been a mess for the Giants for several years now. The future of the position did not gain any clarity in 2018 and remains in desperate need of an upgrade either from in internal player stepping up, or by trade.
Mac really seemed like he finally had his stuff in order last season, until he took the header into the wall. Assuming his head is straight, I'd give him a chance out of ST.
ReplyDeleteOutfield in general has been a problem area for the Giants for quite a while. Who was the last quality outfielder drafted or developed by the Giants? As the team restructures, that is an area that should be addressed, because our scouting/coaching hasn't done well in the outfield.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, center should not be a position in need of filling. Duggar planned it well enough to be named starter, right now. I actually think that he should have been named the starter coming out of ST last season, but that's a debate for another time.
ReplyDeleteFor the Yankees, McCutchen played almost as many innings in LF as RF.
ReplyDeleteHis OF deficiencies are less in left, especially in places like AT&T.
In the AL, he bettered his good OBP (.368 overall) and upped his slugging to .471, not power but could play in a move-the-line offense with a good-fielding higher average guy in RF.
He could be good back with SF playing LF and batting 1st.
His OBP leading off 49 games was .469!
Wouldn't he sign for a lot less than Pollock and a lot lot less than Harper?