by Giants offseason preview: Should the team just go young in the outfield? originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO — On his first Opening Day, Buster Posey’s left fielder was Pat Burrell, now his hitting coach. On his final Opening Day, it was Austin Slater, who recently signed with the Chicago White Sox, his fourth team in the past calendar year.
Between the two, Posey saw a different player step into left field each season. The Giants extended their streak of different Opening Day left fielders to 18 last year when Michael Conforto got the nod, and that will continue next season. Heliot Ramos will likely become the 19th different outfielder in 19 years, which would tie the MLB record.
This is a position of change. Overall, though, the outfield might be as defined as any group on the roster.
By signing Mike Yastrzemski to a one-year contract last Friday, the Giants brought back a valuable insurance option and gave themselves the makings of an everyday outfield. Ramos, Jung Hoo Lee and Yastrzemski may not be the most star-studded trio in the NL, but given the holes on the roster elsewhere – notably shortstop and the rotation – the Giants appear ready to spend the major part of their energy worrying about other places. .
After chasing Bryce Harper, Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani and other superstars, they stayed away from Juan Soto, who reportedly has five offers. They could still – and probably will – add to their outfield group, but right now it seems like a position where going young might be the best option. Here is a breakdown…
Of the 40 men
Jerar Encarnación, Jung Hoo Lee, Marco Luciano, Luis Matos, Grant McCray, Wade Meckler, Heliot Ramos and Mike Yastrzemski are the Giants’ current outfielders, although there is some flexibility. Luciano is making a change after moving to shortstop and Meckler spent his final weeks at Triple-A taking grounders at second base, so he could end up as a utility guy.
What went well
On March 11, the Giants made their first significant round of spring cuts, sending 11 players to their minor league facilities. The group included Ramos, who was chosen so early in part because teams have become increasingly wary of keeping 40-man players in camp too long since they enter the big league IL 60 days if they get injured at camp. But there was much more than that.
The Giants didn’t believe Ramos was one of their best outfielders. It’s that simple. They had five more for their Opening Day team and Matos stuck around all spring, putting a pretty big group in front of Ramos’ hopes of breaking through as a starter.
By the end of the season, he was leading the Giants outfielders in wins above replacement and looked like a building block.
The former first-rounder became the first Giants homegrown outfielder since Chili Davis in 1986 to reach the MLB All-Star Game and the first Giant 24 or younger to hit at least 20 home runs since Pablo Sandoval in 2011. Ramos slowed down in the second. halftime, but still finished with 22 home runs, 72 RBIs and a .792 OPS despite not making his debut until May 8. His memorable season included a home run at Rickwood Field and the right-hander’s first pitch in McCovey Cove.
There were other big moments for the outfielders – from Matos’ Player of the Week fireworks to McCray’s late-season power display – but the biggest story of the year for the outfield was quite easily Ramos’ breakthrough, a sigh of relief for an organization that had seemingly given up on him being an everyday player during the 2023 MLB season.
What didn’t work
Jorge Soler was such a disappointment at DH that the Giants sent him away at the deadline to end the final two years of his contract, and an ailing Slater was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in July. Conforto was better than he was in 2023, but much of his production came after the team’s MLB playoff hopes were dashed.
The biggest problem in the outfield, however, was the Oracle Park fence. Lee crashed there on May 12 and dislocated his left shoulder, leading to surgery to repair a torn labrum and stabilize his shoulder capsule. It was the second dislocated shoulder for an outfielder who signed one of the biggest contracts in franchise history and was expected to be the everyday leadoff hitter and center fielder.
Lee only played 37 games, and there’s not much to glean from the numbers since there would always be an adjustment period as he returned from the KBO. He showed flashes of being a very good defensive center fielder and averaged 94.2 mph on his pitches, which ranked him sixth in baseball on the day he was injured. He swung and missed on just 4.2 percent of the pitches he saw and had the third-lowest strikeout rate in MLB, so it certainly seems like his trademark bat control will work at the league level. big league.
Most of the time, the injury was just a disappointment. Lee quickly became a fan favorite, and the Giants hoped he would bring real enthusiasm to Oracle Park. They ended up having to wait a year.
Prospect to watch
From Farhan Zaidi to Posey, no one has made it officially official, but Luciano’s days as an infielder certainly seem to be over. Opposing scouts have long wondered why the Giants didn’t just put him in a corner of the outfield, and after struggles at shortstop and second base, had him start taking fly balls at the end of the year. That will be the offseason goal for a former top prospect who is still only 23 years old.
New general manager Zack Minasian spotted Luciano when he was 14 in the Dominican Republic and said he remembers how the power stood out.
“He had a little bigger kick at that point and it reminded me of Alfonso Soriano,” Minasian said on last week’s “Giants Talk.” “Sori was a guy who played infield and ended up going to left field and [was] athletic [with] great power, and Luci has this type of ability. »
Taking Luciano out of the mix, this is still an area of depth in a farm system that isn’t considered very strong at the moment. Three of the organization’s top five prospects are outfielders, according to MLB Pipeline, with 2024 first-rounder James Tibbs III ranking second in the system behind first baseman Bryce Eldridge. Tibbs, 22, is expected to start next season with High-A Eugene.
The Giants went way over the top to sign fourth-rounder Dakota Jordan, a superb athlete with plus power and speed. In Jordan and 18-year-old Rayner Arias, they have some very interesting prospects, but both are quite far from the big leagues.
Potential free agent targets
Well, in theory, there is Soto…
The next tier includes Teoscar Hernandez, Anthony Santander and Jurickson Profar, although the Giants likely need to secure a shortstop before diving into those outfield waters. The best of the rest include Max Kepler, Tyler O’Neill and Alex Verdugo, with O’Neil standing out as he had a 1.180 OPS against lefties, which would make him an ideal fit alongside Yastrzemski.
Many old friends are also available: Conforto, Mark Canha, Joc Pederson, Adam Duvall, Kevin Pillar, Connor Joe and Mike Tauchman.
The big question of the offseason
At almost every position, Posey and Minasian have to decide how much rope they want to give young players, but it’s especially intriguing in the outfield.
Matos has had a rough year overall, but he’s a 22-year-old who had two homers, three doubles and 16 RBIs in a memorable week and is hitting .299 in winter ball. One could argue that the Giants should just commit to giving him 400 at-bats next year, which wouldn’t be hard to do given their current outfield and the fact that they don’t have a Daily DH.
Placing McCray with Lee in the outfield would be great defensively, and he would bring speed and power if the staff could handle the strikeouts. Luciano has the most potential of all, and the hope is that moving him to the outfield unlocks his power.
The question for the Giants is simple: How many obstacles do they want to throw at these three prospects?
They already have Encarnación and could certainly add another experienced outfielder or two, but at some point they also need to see what they have in their internal options, especially Matos, who is the closest of the three to being a great everyday player. When asked about Matos and Luciano earlier this month, Minasian pointed out that the most important stats for young players are plate appearance and innings.
“For these two [it’s] I just continue to develop. Their ceilings are huge, and we’re trying to put them in a position where we can help them,” he said. “Buster has said publicly that he’s trying to get Luci to play on the court more and to make him comfortable there, and he certainly has the offense. tools, we have seen it. Matos won National League Player of the Week at one point last year, so there’s a lot of ability there. But continuing to make them consistent at-bats and in games, I think, is the most important thing for their developmental path right now. »
That would seem to indicate they’ll start the year in Triple-A, but as the Giants saw with Ramos last year, there’s plenty of upside to letting a talented young outfielder take his reps at the level. big league.
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