3 SF Giants players who improved their stock the most with a strong finish

3 SF Giants players who improved their stock the most with a strong finish

2. First baseman J.D. Davis

Besides Joc Pederson, there was not a Giants hitter who demonstrated more power than J.D. Davis. The Giants acquired the power bat along with three pitching prospects from the New York Mets in exchange for Darin Ruf at the trade deadline.

Even if this trade was a one-for-one swap, it was a move that the Giants definitively won. However, the fact that the San Francisco received a potential leverage reliever in Thomas Szapucki and two intriguing prospects in Nick Zwatt and Carson Seymour makes the move look even more like a victory.

Davis' skill set is tough to project because he is a solidly above-average hitter but he does not really have a position on defense. He finished the year seeing more time at first base as the Giants tried to get his bat in the lineup more often.

Given that the Giants might not pursue a reunion with longtime first baseman Brandon Belt, it stands to reason that Davis could be a serviceable replacement. To his credit, Davis flashed impressive power potential.

Following the trade, the right-handed bat slashed .265/.359/.500 (143 wRC+) with eight home runs, 14 RBI, and 20 runs in 154 plate appearances with the Giants. This includes an 11.5 percent walk rate against a 34.6 percent strikeout rate.

The 29-year-old is the modern-day hitter in that his plate appearances typically end in a strikeout, walk, or a home run. The good news is that he does plenty of the latter two options.

Davis is under team control for two more seasons and he is due a modest raise from his $2.9 million salary in 2022. The Giants already have Wilmer Flores under contract for next season after signing a two-year, $13 million extension and it is difficult to ignore that he and Davis fill similar roles.

That said, the Giants should be able to split time with both at first base and DH, but they cannot really add any more defensively-limited players who hit from the right side if they are going with these two. The good news is that both are platoon-proof players, so they should both see a healthy dose of playing time.

3 SF Giants players who improved their stock the most with a strong finish

3. Reliever Tyler Rogers

There were some really rough moments for Tyler Rogers in 2022. I was mildly surprised that the Giants did not demote him to Triple-A midway through the year as he struggled to find any consistency on the mound.

The veteran reliever yielded seven earned runs in 0.1 innings of work in a wild game against the New York Mets in May. That proved to be the start of a rough patch for Rogers as he posted a 4.89 ERA over the next 42.1 frames.

It got to a point where it seemed possible that the Giants would non-tender the 31-year-old reliever in the offseason. He relies on contact to record outs, which is great when you have a good defense behind you, but the Giants' defense was worth -5 Outs Above Average (OAA) on the mound, so they did him no favors.

Despite his poor surface-level stats, Rogers still excelled at inducing poor contact. He allowed an 84-MPH average exit velocity on batted balls to go along with a 1.4-degree launch angle. The exit velocity mark was the second-best in baseball behind New York Yankees reliever Jonathan Loáisiga.

It felt like it was only a matter of time before Rogers' numbers would fall back in line and that trend took place near the end of the season. The submarine-style reliever finished the year with 11 straight scoreless outings as he looked more like the reliable reliever that Giants fans have come to expect.

His overall numbers do not look bad as he registered a 3.57 ERA, 3.44 FIP, 1.27 WHIP, 5.8 K/9, and a 2.09 SO/W ratio in 68 appearances. If you remove his appearance against the Mets in May, he would have finished with a 2.75 ERA but cherry-picking stats can make any player look good or bad.

The Giants will need to rebuild the bullpen in the offseason but I think they can be comfortable with having a reliever like Rogers in a leverage role. He has proven to be one of the more effective relievers in baseball since the 2019 season.