San Francisco Giants: Mike Gerber still raking for Triple-A Sacramento

Despite a disappointing showing in his brief time on the San Francisco Giants roster earlier this year, Mike Gerber continues to rake at Triple-A.

Outfielder Mike Gerber has played just four games for the San Francisco Giants this season.

The 25-year-old was called up after starting the year in Sacramento when Gerardo Parra was designated for assignment in early May. However, his stay in the majors was a short one when he went just 1-for-16 with nine strikeouts before he was sent back to Triple-A.

He similarly struggled during a brief call-up last season, going 4-for-42 (.095 BA) with 21 strikeouts in 47 plate appearances.

So why are we even talking about him?

Despite his struggles at the big league level, Gerber has absolutely destroyed Triple-A pitching this season.

He’s hitting .321/.383/.608 with 22 doubles, 15 home runs and 43 RBI in 266 plate appearances over 60 games with Sacramento.

That performance is surprising, not only because of his struggles at the MLB level but also because of his past performance in the minors.

Last year, he hit just .213/.277/.411 at the Triple-A level for the Detroit Tigers, and he has already eclipsed the 13 home runs he hit in 2018.

At this point, we’re looking at a large enough sample size that this is more than a hot streak.

While he has cooled a bit of late, Gerber is still hitting .273 with four home runs in the month of June. Still, you can’t help but wonder if we’ve seen the last of Mike Gerber on the San Francisco Giants.

He’s been a star at the Triple-A level this year, but he failed to make the most of his opportunity earlier this season and in the meantime, both Mike Yastrzemski and Alex Dickerson have emerged as everyday guys at the corner outfield spots.

As such, there’s no real rush to give Gerber another shot in the majors. He’ll likely be the first name up if a trade or injury occurs, but for the time being, he’ll continue waiting in the wings.

Meanwhile, go ahead and add him to the growing list of names to keep an eye on at the minor league level.