3 SF Giants who absolutely need to step up in the second half

The SF Giants have put themselves in a good position heading into the second half of the season. At 52-45, the team is just a half game out of the NL Wild Card, and this looks like their best opportunity to make the postseason since 2021.

3 SF Giants who absolutely need to step up in the second half

However, the team's fate could drastically change for the better or worse if certain players are able to carry their weight in the lineup. Here are three Giants who absolutely need to step it up if the Giants are going to reach their full potential in 2025.

1. Rafael Devers

It feels like a player with a career .855 OPS and an .844 OPS on the season should not need to step up any more, but that would be ignorant of Devers' first 25 games in San Francisco. The designated hitter has struggled in San Francisco. His .272 batting average in Boston has slipped to .202 with the Giants. His OBP is down from .401 to .326, and his slugging has dropped from .504 to .326.

Devers has hit just two home runs and driven in ten runs in 25 games as a San Francisco Giant. That is not good enough to justify the massive contract San Francisco traded for. There is still plenty of time for Devers to turn things around, and for the sake of the lineup, he has to.

2. Jung Hoo Lee

While Lee's season numbers look okay, that is mostly due to his extremely hot start. Through the first 14 games of the season, Lee had a 1.130 OPS with three home runs and three stolen bases. Then, from April 14th until June 30th, Lee was among the worst regular players in the Giants' lineup. He slashed .222/.285/.335, with a .620 OPS over 73 games. He added three home runs and three stolen bases in the next 73-game stretch.

The Giants don't need Lee to play like he did the first two weeks of the season, but they need him to play better than he did over the next 73 games. Lee has shown signs of life in July. He's hitting .324 with an .852 OPS and .486 slugging across ten games in July. While he still has not hit a home run since May 14th, Lee's hit two doubles and two triples in July.

If Lee can post a .750 OPS the rest of the way while continuing to play plus-defense in center field, he would be a spark in the Giants' lineup.

3. Willy Adames

Adames has been playing better for a while now, but needs to keep it up if San Francisco is going to make a run towards the postseason.

On June 7th, Adames was slashing .193/.281/.303 with a .584 OPS through the Giants' first 65 games. Since then, over the next 31 games, Adames has slashed .282/.364/.527, good for an .892 OPS, over 300 points higher.

Suddenly, the shortstop looks like the player San Francisco signed to a record-breaking seven-year contract, the most expensive in team history, last offseason. If he can keep it up, he brings the Giants' lineup from good to great.