San Francisco Giants: Gorkys Hernandez in 2018? We’ll see

Why Gorkys SHOULD be a part of the Outfield in 2018

Look. The Giants likely aren’t competing in 2018. As mentioned in an article earlier this week, very few teams return to the postseason less than 365 days from being a 100+ game loser. The Giants are close to being a 100 game loser, but still might avoid it. Gorkys Hernandez being on the roster won’t be a reason why the Giants can’t contend in 2018. The only reason a Giants team in 2018 won’t contend is because they didn’t have a competent roster.

Gorkys Hernandez, even on a contender, is a good option as a fourth or fifth outfielder. The Giants do have a few decent centerfield or outfield prospects hanging out in their organization. But most of them are in the lower levels. It’s not like there is an issue of some old guy who is at best Four-A player blocking the potential growth of a top prospect.

Let’s take a look at Gregor Blanco‘s career numbers with the Giants: .259/.338/.350/.692. If you harken back to our first slide, those numbers are just about equal, maybe slightly worse than what Gorkys Hernandez put out after the horrific first three or four weeks he had.

If the Giants upgrade their outfield with a Lorenzo Cain type signing, or the addition of Giancarlo Stanton via trade, the Giants should be ok with Gorkys Hernandez as a fourth outfielder. That’s 100% fine. They just need someone to come in and give average outfield defense (check), below average to average offense (check), for maybe 350-400 at-bats. That’s exactly what you need out of a fourth outfielder. Throw in the fact that he can play multiple outfield positions, the Giants are sane enough to keep him as a fourth outfielder.