San Francisco Giants “2 Out Hits Toteboard” Week 6.5

The San Francisco Giants are 26-15 and atop the National League West. They lead the Colorado Rockies by 3.5 games, the largest lead they have had in the division this season. A quarter of the season is done and the Giants have played some good baseball to open up 2014.

I wasn’t able to post the weekly board on Monday so today I’m going to recap how the Giants have done with 2 outs this season. Some of the results really surprised me and may surprise you.

Sometimes we’re left frustrated at seeing runners stranded on base when an inning ends. Time and again we think back to those missed opportunities later in the game and wonder, what if? There are times it feels like the Giants strand runners every single inning. It’s just not the case.

The Giants have scored 80 runs this season with 2 outs. That’s 46% of the 173 runs they have scored overall. If you take out the 7 sacrifice flies they have hit turning 1 out to 2, the Giants have scored 41% of their runs with 2 outs.

I know, this isn’t the 2 out runs post, but it’s hard not to notice such numbers. So you’d think that means the Giants have their most hits on the season with 2 outs. Once again, it’s not the case.

The Giants have 99 two-out hits in 447 at bats this season (.221 BA). Contrast that to nobody out when the Giants have 129 hits in 490 at bats (.263 BA). But again, those two-out hits are paying off as 99 hits have produced 80 runs.

The leaders through 41 games this season.

Buster Posey 15/51 .294
Angel Pagan 12/36 .333
Mike Morse 11/41 .268
Hunter Pence 10/44 .227
Brandon Belt 9/39 .231
Brandon Crawford 8/38 .211
Pablo Sandoval 7/48 .146
Brandon Hicks 6/34 .176
Hector Sanchez 4/20 .200

For most of the season it had been Angel Pagan at the top of the board but as you can see Buster Posey has taken the lead. The fact the Pablo Sandoval is hitting .146 with 2 outs was not a surprise, but he’s been hot lately and should be improving on that.

The unlikely Mike Morse has driven in the most runs (13) with 2 outs. That shows he’s not always swinging for the fences and will give you a good at bat in crunch time. Pagan has driven in 10, Belt & Crawford both have 9.

Tip of the cap to new guy Tyler Colvin. In his home debut Monday night against Atlanta, Colvin had two hits with 2 outs. The first was a “Splash Hit” into McCovey Cove, and the other a double that drove in 2 Giants runners. The second run that scored on the double was the difference in the final 4-2 outcome.

I’ll be back next week with regular charts and graphs, and maybe some balloon animals. My typing machine and the interwebs were being fussy so I gave up on those fancy gizmos for today.