2018 San Francisco Giants End of Season Grades: Outfield

Our section of the regulars consists of those who spent more than 50% of their season playing in the outfield, and has the top three in plate appearances at said position. Here they are:

Ahh, the thing with McCutchen is that he has the most plate appearances of any outfielder for the San Francisco Giants. He played a major role in the season so we can’t totally ignore him. I actually really liked McCutchen and thought he did well. A .255 average wasn’t what the Giants were expecting, but he did get on base a ton as he had the highest OBP of anyone on the team. 15 homers in a Giants uniform, and he posted a positive DRS for the first time since 2013. He adapted well to the organization and was a fun player both on and off the field. He created runs at a clip 20 percent higher than the rest of the league, that’s very nice.  So why doesn’t he get an A?

Well, frankly, he did disappoint a bit. His batting average was the lowest of his big league career and his strikeout rate took a massive rise, going to it’s highest at 21.3%. A good season, yes. But expectations would’ve been less strikeouts and more hits, something closer to a .280 average. Otherwise a solid season from McCutchen and his time as a Giant will certainly be remembered fondly.

Gorkys had a very good year. A lot of people, myself included, didn’t want to see him on the roster. He ended up second on the team in homers which is incredibly ridiculous. Although, homers don’t do it all for you. A slashline of .234/.285/.391/.676 isn’t exactly the greatest in it’s own context. Gorkys in terms of OBP and average, met what we would’ve expected of him. The homers are a massive plus, but sadly, striking out 113 times over 27 walks is just a little much. Especially in 400 Plate Appearances, that’s striking out in a quarter of them. Not good. His glove was nice though as he posted a positive DRS in a ton of innings out in the outfield. So that’s good. C+ is average and that’s about what Gorkys year ended up being despite his surprising output in homers.

I didn’t have the heart to give him anything lower than a C, but he just wasn’t that great this year. He had a nice run in at the end of the season, but his plate appearances became rather heartbreaking at a point. Pence won’t be remembered for his final year where he slugged .317. Nor will he be remembered for the miserable batting average and on base percentage. He’ll be remembered for the Hunter Pence we got through 2014 and 2015. Pence was a shell of himself, and most people expected that considering his 2017 season. I’m sad it went as bad as it did, but I’m not shocked.