San Francisco Giants:Prospect Watch-Mac Williamson

Power; it is something that has been hard to come by since the departure of Barry Bonds. Don’t get me wrong, Buster Posey, Hunter Pence, and even Brandon Belt at times have provided it for the San Francisco Giants. But what they’ve been missing is a steady, 25-30 homer guy. This may be due to the fact that AT&T isn’t the most hitter friendly, but there may be a solution in the minors. If he lives up to his potential, Mac Williamson could provide all the power that the Giants need.

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Mac Williamson was originally recruited by his college, Wake Forrest, as a pitcher. However, he had shoulder surgery and never threw a pitch, which caused him to move to the outfield. He was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 46th round of the 2011 MLB June Amateur Draft.

He declined, however, and went back to school. He had an even better year, hitting 17 home runs, 52 RBI’s, and hitting .286/.396/.589, making him shoot up the draft boards. In 2012, the Giants took him in the third round of the draft.

Williamson is a big, big man. He is 6′ 5″ and 240 pounds. Power is his strong suit, and he has a lot of it. He has the potential to be a 25 homer guy, which he has shown in the minors. In 2012, he showed what he could truly do. He hit .292/.375/.504, 25 home runs and 89 RBI’s. He also stole 10 bags and hit 31 doubles. That is an excellent season, and if was in the majors, he would’ve been an all-star.

It showed what Williamson could do if he got a full season of play, and if he lived up to what he can be.

He hit a bump in the road in 2014, though. In April, he underwent season ending Tommy John surgery. He was on his way to another fantastic season, hitting .318, 3 homers and 18 RBI’s in just 23 games. In 2015, his season back from Tommy John, was a down year power wise. He hit .275/.368/.433, with only 13 home runs and 73 RBI’s. His extra bases power stayed around the same, hitting 28.

Before the surgery, he had a plus arm. Of course, it won’t come back immediately. Hopefully, by the start of the 2016 season, it will be back.

In 2015, he finally got the call to the majors. He struggled a bit in 10 games, hitting .219/.235/.281, with no home runs. Of course, it may be just the jitters of playing in the show, but it also could be the fact that he is trying to come back from Tommy John. It obviously isn’t as hard for a position player as a pitcher, but it is a difficult surgery to come back from.

After a year of recovering from the surgery, we could see Williamson’s power once again. If all goes well, Williamson could go back to his 25 homer self. Of course, he may not be back to that 25 homer, 89 RBI season, which is something he may never get back to. However, he can provide the much needed power for the Giants.

AT&T is a hard park to hit for power in, but Williamson has unreal power, so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. He may be able to solve 2 of the problems the Giants were going through this off-season, which is a power hitter and a left fielder.

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They missed out on guys like Cespedes, Davis, and Upton, but Williamson can be both of those. They are still struggling finding a left fielder, whether it be Pagan or Blanco. If Williamson can bounce back, he can be the power hitting left fielder they’ve missed since Bonds.