Drew Gilbert's first MLB hit with SF Giants eerily similar to Mike Yastrzemski's

Recent SF Giants call-up Drew Gilbert got his first big league knock against the San Diego Padres on Monday night. It immediately brought to mind the first major league hit for former Giants outfielder Mike Yastrzemski back in 2019.

Gilbert got the hit in the bottom of the third inning against Padres pitcher Yu Darvish. It was not pretty, and neither was his first big league web gem, but it got the job done and earned him his first hit in 11 at-bats:

First MLB hit for SF Giants rookie reminiscent of Yastrzemski's

The pitch got inside on Gilbert and he was late on it, popping it up into shallow left field where it was perfectly between the shortstop and left fielder. Giants broadcasters Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow noted that it was in almost the exact same spot where Yastrzemski got his first hit.

Back in 2019 when Yastrzemski was a rookie, he hit a similar little pop-up into shallow left field that got down for his first big league hit. Unfortunately, he got a little too overzealous as he took a wide turn around first and thought about going to second, but the left fielder got to the ball quickly and threw him out as he tried to scurry back to first.

Similarly, Gilbert had that moment of jubilation followed by another exciting moment when he stole second base. The throw down to second base went into center field so Gilbert tried to take third but was tagged in the face by Manny Machado and made the third out of the inning at third base, a cardinal sin of baserunning.

That similar roller coaster of emotions from joy to disappointment following his first big league hit is pretty remarkable given Gilbert has already drawn some comparisons to Yastrzemski with his profile as a player. Both are left-handed hitting outfielders who can play all three outfield positions and are above-average defenders. They are both a little shorter too, which has earned Gilbert comparisons to Corbin Carroll.

The reason Gilbert is getting an extended look in right field is because the Giants traded away Yastrzemski at the deadline while adding Gilbert in the Tyler Rogers trade. The Giants are trying to look towards the future and they want to see if Gilbert is going to be part of that future.

If Gilbert can end up being the next Mike Yastrzemski, that would be a pretty nice development given Yastrzemski was a model of consistency and a fan favorite for the Giants for six years.

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