San Francisco Giants: 5 Under the Radar Acquisitions

An old friend, right-handed hitting outfielder Adam Duvall was traded to Cincinnati at the 2015 deadline with prospect Keury Mella in exchange for Mike Leake. After never being able to carve out a full-time role in San Francisco, Duvall exploded playing for the Reds, hitting 64 home runs with quality corner outfield defense from 2016-2017.

Granted, he did struggle mightily in 2018, so the Reds ultimately dealt him to Atlanta, where he had 57 putrid at-bats primarily off the bench (.344 OPS). He also had a .237 BABIP, by far the worst of his career and an indication that he may have suffered from some bad luck.

Additionally, his 2018 line drive, hard contact, walk, and strikeout rates are right in line with his career numbers, further indicating he might have just pissed off the wrong Baseball God.

Even considering that, Duvall is an ideal target for the Giants because he is a corner outfielder with right-handed power, a plus glove, three years of control, and he likely won’t cost too much because of his poor 2018.

The fact that the Braves would even be considering non-tendering Duvall indicates to me that he can be had for very cheap. It makes sense that the Braves would want to eschew him out, given their incredible prospect pool and apparent desire to add a more consistent/expensive bat to flank young star center fielder Ronald Acuna.

The skill set that Duvall can bring to the Giants, even as a bounce-back candidate, is tantalizing. He clearly struggled coming off the bench, but the Giants can finally give him regular playing time as he enters his age 30 season.