San Francisco Giants: Who was the biggest disappointment in 2019?

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SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 13: Buster Posey #28 of the San Francisco Giants hits an RBI single during the sixth inning against the Miami Marlins at Oracle Park on September 13, 2019 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/Getty Images) /

The 2019 season had plenty of surprise performances for the San Francisco Giants, including from Mike Yastrzemski and Donovan Solano. However, there were plenty of disappointments as well.

On the bright side, the San Francisco Giants won 77 games in 2019, which seems like a minor accomplishment given the fact that they won only 73 games in 2018 with a similar roster.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, several core players really showed their age with numbers well short of their prime production. In addition, some of the younger players also took a step back in their development.

Despite all of that, the 2019 season still seems like a net positive for the Giants. They began to restock their farm system, while also finding some quality position players ready to make an MLB impact in both Yastrzemski and Mauricio Dubon.

On the financial side of things, the Giants found salary relief by trading away Mark Melancon and Sam Dyson, as well as designating Joe Panik for assignment.

With all that being said, there were still plenty of disappointing individual performances in 2019 that contributed to the team falling short of a postseason berth once again.

Who was the biggest disappointment of them all?

Around the Foghorn writers Jeff Young, Melissa Dickson, Nick San Miguel, and Joel Reuter each weighed in with their choice of the 2019 season’s most disappointing player.

Who do you think was this season’s biggest disappointment? Let us know in the comment section or on our Twitter page. For now, let’s get the conversation started with our picks.

Brandon Crawford

Written by: Jeff Young

Brandon Crawford has developed a reputation as a slow starter, but it feels like he never really got going with the bat in 2019.

The longtime Giants shortstop posted a .228/.304/.350 line to go along with a 75 OPS+. That OPS+ indicates that Crawford’s stat line was 25 percent worse than the league average hitter.

That level of productivity is difficult to justify, regardless of how good a player is defensively.

The problem with Crawford is that his glove is also not what it once was. The three-time Gold Glove winner is known for his incredible range, and for making difficult plays look easy.

However, his defense has been on a downward trend since 2016, when he posted 20 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS). In 2019, Crawford posted 0 DRS and a 0.0 Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR). These defensive metrics suggest that the 32-year-old has become an average shortstop. At times, the eye test may disagree, as he continued to make some stellar plays, but it seemed like Crawford lost a step in 2019.

From a defensive standpoint, Crawford was a disappointment. The glove has always been better than the bat, so any offensive production was a bonus. However, the question will be whether the glove can return to its Gold Glove form as Crawford enters his age-33 season.

With two years and $30.4 million remaining on his contract, which includes a full no-trade clause, the Giants will likely not be able to find a trade partner. If Crawford’s overall decline carries into next season, he could quickly see diminished playing time.

Brandon Belt

Written by: Nick San Miguel

Brandon Belt was the most disappointing San Francisco Giants player in 2019.

There were other disappointments, such as Dereck Rodriguez or Steven Duggar, but they were young, unproven players with questions about whether they would be long-term producers.

With Belt, he has proven time and time again that he can be the life source for an offense that goes cold seemingly every other week. Injuries have prevented him from reaching his full potential and having that big year where he bats over .300 and swats over 20 home runs. He was finally healthy this year, but still unable to put it all together.

What makes his decline in performance more disappointing is that it will make it that much more difficult for the Giants to trade him this offseason. Not to mention a sizable contract that teams will not be eager to take on.

Belt is capable of bouncing back. He’s still just 31 years old, and we saw a 35-year-old Hunter Pence enjoy a resurgent season with the Texas Rangers in 2019.

Perhaps it’s as simple as a tweak to his swing or a more aggressive approach at the plate. There’s always the possibility that he is just a few adjustments away from putting together a solid season and being one of the team’s main offensive producers.

As long as the injuries do not creep up again, he may find his footing. With guys like Mike Yastrzemski and Mauricio Dubon more likely to bat lead-off, that could free Belt up to fill more of a run production role, rather than trying to be a table-setter atop the lineup.

Despite the disappointing year, I still have hope that Belt can turn things around and put together a solid 2020 if he is still wearing a Giants uniform.

Steven Duggar

Written by: Melissa Dickson

New season, new management, and perhaps some new players? The San Francisco Giants 2019 season depended heavily on the performances shown by all players, old and new.

Heading into the 2019 season, the young faces were being closely watched with expectation and anticipation. One in particular who had made his MLB debut in the prior season was center fielder Steven Duggar.

With the team in desperate need of outfielders, fans and management were eager to see Duggar play a full season after showing great promise in 2018.

Unfortunately, disappointment prevailed.

Despite having 120 more at-bats than the season before, his 2019 RBI count only went up by 11 and his batting average sunk from .255 to .234.

With such a set up in 2018, everyone had high hopes for the 25-year-old from Clemson University and they were disappointed when he was outshined by players like Alex Dickerson and even by rookies like Mike Yastrzemski and Jaylin Davis.

The numbers were worse, yes, but more important than that, there was no fire when Duggar stepped into the batter’s box. Almost every swing felt empty, without purpose.

Singles? Forgotten. Occurring at times that would amount to nothing. Doubles? Rare. Home runs? Hard to recall. There was simply too little cause for hope if he was the one making his way to the batter’s box with two out and two on.

So what is the next step? Give him another season to try to figure things out?

Unfortunately for Duggar, a new coaching staff in 2020 means no attachments to young players who showed glimpses of potential upside in 2018. In the end, 2019 may have been his opportunity to impress.

Instead, he has landed himself in the “biggest disappointment” category, left to await his fate as spring grows ever closer.

Dereck Rodriguez

Written by: Joel Reuter

There were clear signs that Dereck Rodriguez was going to regress from his brilliant out-of-nowhere rookie season.

Plucked from the scrapheap and signed to a minor league deal, Rodriguez found his way onto an injury-ravaged starting staff in 2018 and wound up posting a terrific 2.81 ERA in 118.1 innings of work.

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Below the surface, his 3.73 FIP suggested that he pitched over his head, but even if his ERA moved closer to that expected mark in 2019, he still would have been a solid member of the rotation.

Instead, he struggled to a 5.05 ERA in his first eight starts before being demoted to Triple-A and then relegated to mop-up duty in the MLB bullpen.

He returned to the rotation for the final two months of the season and showed a few flashes with strong starts against the Arizona Diamondbacks (8/15: 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 ER) and St. Louis Cardinals (9/3: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER), but overall the season was a massive disappointment.

All told, he tossed 99 innings in 16 starts and 12 relief appearances, posting a 5.64 ERA and a 5.69 FIP that provided little reason for optimism going forward.

After looking like a potential building block at the start of the 2019 season, the 27-year-old will enter spring training fighting not only for a rotation job, but for a spot on the Opening Day roster in general.

Next. Who was the San Francisco Giants biggest surprise in 2019?

So there you have it, our picks for the most disappointing San Francisco Giants players of 2019. Who gets your vote?

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