San Francisco Giants: 3 Opening Day Observations from 2-0 Loss

The Giants NEED another Hitter

If the lineup did not convince you the Giants are a bad hitting baseball team, check the box score. 5 total hits, all singles, will almost NEVER win you a baseball game. The outfield went 0-9 with a walk.

The top of the order hitters of Steven Duggar and Brandon Belt went 0-8. The Giants have never been a great hitting team since Barry Bonds left, but the past couple seasons have been rough. If the Giants have any aspirations of winning, just for pride’s sake, a real power hitter is necessary. If that player is an outfielder who can play some defense, even better, but they are in no position to be picky.

The lineup used in day one is one where it is very hard to picture one player hitting more than 20 homers, which won’t fly in the 2019 iteration of baseball. Zaidi has been taking flyers on players with a high OBP and high walk rate, but why not pick up a Chris Carter type, who can just be the dinger machine they need.

Walks are great and have been cherished since the Moneyball method, but the Giants have OBP types already in Belt, Buster Posey, and to an extent Joe Panik. Why not get someone who can hit the ball out of the park once in a while? Posey, coming off of five homers and an offseason hip surgery should not be the Giants cleanup hitter, regardless of what his pedigree is. OBP is only as valuable as the hitters behind, and currently the Giants are showing up to a knife fight with a spoon.