San Francisco Giants Madness: 13-16 Seeds Announced

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Oct 7, 2014; San Francisco, CA, USA; A general view during the third inning of game four of the 2014 NLDS baseball playoff game between the San Francisco Giants and the Washington Nationals at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports /

15 Seeds:

Russ Ortiz

Russ Ortiz is best remembered for being taken out of Game 6 of the 2002 World Series. However, people remember that moment as much because of how well Ortiz was pitching as for what happened after. Ortiz pitched five seasons for the Giants from 1998-2002 before returning for one more season in 2007. Ortiz was the Giants best pitcher over that five year span with a WAR 2 wins higher than Kirk Rueter in that same time. In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, the Giants lineup carried them to most of their victories, but Ortiz led the pitching staff.

Shawn Estes

Shawn Estes was a 24 year old All-Star in 1997, finishing the year 19-5. He started the All-Star game itself after a dominant 1st half. In 111.1 innings pitched, Estes went 12-2 with a 2.51 earned run average over 17 first half starts. His .857 winning percentage is tied for the fourth best first half since the team moved to California in 1958. Over seven seasons, Estes would win 64 games over 990 innings. No matter how good any future pitcher does for the Giants, few will do as well as Estes did to start the 1997 season.

Noah Lowry

Noah Lowry was having a strong career for the Giants before injuries cut his career short at 26 years old. Before he retired, however, Lowry still managed to pitch very well over five seasons. In 2005, as a 24 year old, Lowry would throw over 200 innings and win 13 games. In 2007, he would go 14-8 with a 3.92 ERA. We may have never seen Lowry’s best seasons because of injury, but he still ended up being one of the better pitchers for the Giants. Between 2004-2007 the team didn’t have the success to show for Lowry’s strong pitching.

Frank Linzy

Many Giants fans have either forgotten about Frank Linzy or weren’t around in the 1960’s to see him pitch. Linzy joined the Giants in 1963, a year after the Giants lost in seven games to the New York Yankees in the World Series. Over seven seasons, Linzy maintained a 2.71 ERA over 308 games pitched that included 77 saves. Linzy was one of the best relief pitchers in San Francisco history and is certainly worthy of being on the list of 64 greatest Giants.