San Francisco Giants Series against the Nationals: Three Takeaways

Mac Williamson Is For Real

Before the season started a lot of people were originally bullish on whether his new swing was just gimmicky, and a product of being hot in Spring. He started to dispell that notion with his hot start in Sacramento. But for him to show out like he did in the first couple games, including that monster shot in the series opener, was telling.

I have never seen a baseball hit that far by a right hander. Only twice I’ve seen it hit there from a lefty (Pablo Sandoval and Barry Bonds). But Williamson has also been solid in the field. He hasn’t made a mis-step yet, and he’s just fit in as an every day outfielder. The big question is what happens when Hunter Pence comes back?

Pence comes back on Sunday, but will have a few games in the minors to get back into the swing of things. It’s your typical rehab assignment. I’m going to assume that Pence isn’t actually brought off the DL until after Sunday’s game.

Williamson needs to be on this roster. He’s a good player, and has the stuff to stick at the big league level now. But the question goes, do they keep six outfielders?

Mac is forcing them to answer these roster questions. Gregor Blanco and Gorkys Hernandez have both done admirable jobs as the fourth and fifth outfielders so far. He’d certainly be ahead of them in the bench depth chart if they really were convinced that Hunter Pence should be playing every day. Six outfielders don’t make sense, especially when Austin Jackson, Blanco, and Gorkys are virtually the same thing. They don’t need three of those guys, especially if Duggar makes his way up here at some point.

We’ve already made our case for Mac replacing Pence as the full time left fielder, and I’m going to give Vince Cestone a ringing endorsement on that opinion.

The Giants Bullpen Is Quite Formidable at the Moment

Look. Yesterday’s game wasn’t fun. But the first two were, and so were the three games over the weekend. The Giants were back to playing good ball. They scored enough runs, and pitched really well, especially with the bullpen in the latter innings.

Let’s take a look though at what the bullpen has been doing during their solid stretch of play recently. So far this season, the Giants Bullpen is actually on pace to do what they did in 2012.

In 2012 they had around a 1.30 WHIP with a mid three’s ERA. That’s exactly where they’re at this year. A middle average bullpen is nice. But what is big here their LOB % is in the top half of the league. That’s better than it was in 2012. They’ve had better bullpens in the past, but the early returns on a bullpen that’s missing two gigantic pieces have been nice.

Hunter Strickland has been good in the closer role, Sam Dyson figured his stuff out this week, and Tony Watson has been lights out all season. With Will Smith coming back potentially next week, and Mark Melancon‘s recovery coming along, we’ll start seeing some of the “problem pieces” in the bullpen, hit the road.

Corey Gearrin and Josh Osich are candidates to be dropped when they come back, while Reyes Moronta and Pierce Johnson have solidified their state in this staff.

Moronta might be my cult favorite reliever at the moment. In 14 innings of work, he’s struck out 14, walked 8, and holds a 0.64 ERA. As long as he can do his best to limit the walks, his stuff is nasty enough to strike people. Being effectively wild is what’s been working with him.

The bullpen hasn’t been the Giants biggest issue, and has actually helped them in multiple games so far this season, and they were huge in the first two games of this series. Here’s to hoping they keep up this trend.

Brandon Belt is Carrying the Giants Offense

Brandon Belt has hit five homers in his last seven games. He’s now on pace to hit a home run every 11.5 official at bats. If he had that pace last season, he would’ve hit 33 homers, and in 2017 he would’ve hit 47. Now I don’t think that’s going to be the case. It’ll probably sit out around 15 or 18 at bats, which still would’ve been good for 25 homers last year.

Belt is good enough to do this. We do know he gets hot and cold, which is why I’d expect a drop-off. But he’s really been locked in lately, and carrying the Giants offense. He’s on an eight game hitting streak, and over that streak he’s brought in eight of the Giants’ 28 runs scored.

When a guy like Belt continues to get on base and make stuff happen, the Giants get wins. That’s how this all goes. If Belt can continue this streak, players like Evan Longoria, Andrew McCutchen, and Buster Posey will have a lot less pressure to get the job done.

Belts push also came with great defensive plays over the weekend in Anaheim, and after a rough start, it seems like Belt is finally getting off a good.

The San Francisco Giants are playing really well now thanks to Brandon Belt, and while we know he is streaky, here’s to hoping he can keep it more consistent this season, and be a continual cog in the middle of the Giants’ lineup.

Next: Pitching fails in 15-2 loss

The San Francisco Giants will take on the Dodgers in their next series, which will end a daunting stretch to their early schedule, especially without some of the key guys. They’ve set themselves up for success when they get healthy in a month or two, and if they can keep this up, they’ll be just fine in 2018.