SF Giants: Time For Parker, Williamson To Step Up

The SF Giants have had some rough injury luck recently. Pence to the DL, Duffy to the DL, Panik to the DL. Even Adrianza and Kelby Tomlinson,meaning their depth went on the DL. Denard Span has also been a little banged up.

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Thus, the Giants have had to rely on guys they never thought they would have, like Grant Green and even Ruben Tejada. However, it gives them a chance to give Jarrett Parker and Mac Williamson regular at bats, even though that hasn’t fully happened yet.

Earlier in the year, I wrote a story about Mac Williamson, scouting him and saying I think he had a chance to soon become the everyday left fielder. With all of the injuries, he has finally gotten the chance to be an everyday player. The Giants need all the help they can get on offense, and Williamson is just one outfield prospect to help them.

Williamson has been up and down a lot this year. Before his current stint in the majors, many Giants fans were getting frustrated with what they were doing to him. They thought that if he was going to be in the majors, he should be getting playing time, especially with all the injuries.

Mac Williamson still needs to get regular at bats. He has been getting at bat recently, but for a while, Bruce Bochy was playing matchups. Now, Williamson in playing mostly everyday, but he still needs to start hitting. He has been hitting for some power, but not enough considering how low his batting average and on base percentage are. He’s hitting .225, which is only in the line up because of all the injuries. His OBP is .321, partly because he just doesn’t take walks. He has 8 of them, which is third least on the team (min 75 PA) . Despite what we he has shown in the past in the minors, his power hasn’t fully been there. His isolated power is .197, but he’s slugging .423 and his OPS is a just slightly acceptable .744. He has been only a slightly below to just league average player, which is shown in his 100 OPS+.

It has been practically the same story for Jarrett Parker. He has a ton of promise with all of his power, but it hasn’t fully shown, though it has in the past. If you remember, he went on a power binge last year in Oakland, getting very hot and finishing the year with a 1.163 OPS. However, this year he has fallen back down to just about league average, maybe even slightly better at times. Although he has just 1 more homer and 2 more RBI than Williamson, his power numbers are pretty much the same. His isolated power is 17 points lower at .180, but is slugging is .430, just a little better. Though you could argue Parker’s power numbers are a little better, he isn’t really hitting better, just .250. However, he does walk a little more than Williamson, walking 15 times, though he does strikeout a lot. His strikeout rate is 29.9%.

Bochy has been playing matchups for the most part, and it’s easy to see why. Parker’s numbers against righties are very good. He has 4 of his 5 homers against righties, and he is slashing .318/.444/.530 with a .975 OPS. It’s also clear that why he would sit against lefties, because he is slashing .118/.167/.235. With Williamson, though, it’s tougher to see why Williamson is being forced to play matchups because he’s not hitting over .235 against either righties or lefties.

One thing is clear, though. They need to play, and when they do they need to hit. After Pence had what seemed to be a setback in his first rehab game, the Giants are going to need all of the offense they can get, especially with a series against the best lineup in baseball coming up. After getting swept by the Padres coming out of the break, the Giants will need help offensively, especially with their outfield of Pagan, Span, and Blanco hitting .285, .248, and .249 respectively, with little to no power between the three. It also doesn’t help that the two third base replacements, Ruben Tejada and Conor Gillaspie are hitting .167 and .260.

Next: Heading West After Sweep

Although they won’t fix all of the offensive woes, Parker and Williamson could help just enough until everyone gets healthy. Panik could be back by the Yankees series, so that gives the Giants second base help. But until Pence and Duffy come back, the two youngsters need to `step up, and quickly.

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