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

The 2022 season is officially in the books. The SF Giants finished with a respectable 81-81 record, but this also represents a 26-win drop from last year's team. Despite the disappointing season in some respects, there were certainly some bright spots. And, some players really improved their stock with a strong finish.

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

The 2022 season saw keystone players like Camilo Doval and Logan Webb further cement themselves as one of the better closers and starting pitchers, respectively, in baseball. As a whole, the rotation was a strength headlined by Webb and Carlos Rodón with a strong finish by Alex Cobb and some nice moments from Alex Wood and Jakob Junis.

The defense was abysmal and there were too many instances where miscues led to a heavier workload from the pitching staff. This is one area that the Giants will need to address in the offseason as this year's roster had too many defensively-limited players.

The lineup will be another area to address. Oddly enough, the Giants handled left-handed pitching to the tune of a 106 wRC+ but were less productive against righties with a 99 wRC+. I do think that is one area that they should be able to address with relative ease. However, they can pencil a few righties like David Villar and J.D. Davis after both had a strong finish to the year.

1. Third baseman David Villar

There is no one in the Giants organization in 2022 whose stock rose more than Villar. The right-handed bat began the year in Triple-A and played his way into a midseason promotion after he torched Pacific Coast League pitching to the tune of a 1.022 OPS in 366 plate appearances.

His first stint with the Giants had some nice moments but he faded pretty quickly. By the beginning of August, the 25-year-old had recorded a .175/.338/.286 line with one home run, seven RBI, and eight runs in 80 plate appearances. This came with a solid 16.3 percent walk rate against a rough 35 percent strikeout rate.

He was demoted in the first week of August but returned in September as rosters expanded. The coaching staff seemed motivated to get him as much playing time as possible and he rewarded that decision.

The corner infielder recorded 25 hits in 93 at-bats with eight home runs to finish out the season. This included a two-homer game against Clayton Kershaw and the Los Angeles Dodgers in early September and another two-homer game against the San Diego Padres in an 8-1 victory in the final game of the season.

He finished the year with a 124 wRC+ in 181 plate appearances and should head into next season as the incumbent starter at third base. The only curve ball is what the Giants decide to do with Evan Longoria's $13 million option. The veteran third baseman is still a productive player, but it felt like Villar's audition was intended to guide the front office on how to handle Longoia's option and I think the young infielder made this a tough decision with his strong play.

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.