3 under-the-radar SF Giants players off to a good start in 2023

At 16-19, the San Francisco Giants are not exactly where they wanted to be when the 2023 regular season began. Newcomers like Michael Conforto, Mitch Haniger, Sean Manaea and Ross Stripling were expected to all play key roles on this year's squad.

After all, such a talented group seemed primed to take down the always-dangerous Los Angeles Dodgers, who had lost some premier names in free agency this past offseason and replaced them with the likes of Jason Heyward and David Peralta.

Instead, the team is currently, 5.0 GB from first place with a -21 run differential. Through and through, the club cannot seem to get going. Conforto is hitting .170 and Haniger .200. Manaea sports an ERA that you would typically see from a position player and Stripling already can't hold down a consistent spot in the starting rotation.

Elsewhere on the roster, David Villar, who was widely expected to be the club's everyday third baseman all year long, has already lost his handle on a full-time gig and has a .145 average in just under 100 at-bats. Need I say more?

Fortunately, there are a handful of players whose names have flown under the radar to begin the year, and are quietly putting together solid performances through the first month-plus, including a few names that nobody thought would find such successes during the current campaign.

Let's check out 3 under-the-radar Giants players who are off to good starts in 2023.

3 under-the-radar SF Giants players off to a good start in 2023

1. Infielder Thairo Estrada

It's becoming increasingly difficult for Estrada to be ignored on a national stage. Ever since he joined the Giants in early 2021, he has done nothing but produce for the team.

Through 33 games this season, the 27-year-old speedster has been on a tear at the plate; hitting seven doubles and six home runs with 23 runs scored, 14 driven in and a .344 batting average. His .929 OPS is well above-average and he actually owns the National League's highest Offensive Wins Above Replacement (oWAR) with 1.9 entering Monday's action.

Estrada's defensive abilities are not to go without mentioning either. He has lined up all over the infield and outfield for the Giants in the past few seasons and while he doesn't necessarily grade out as a top-tier defender at shortstop because of his poor arm strength, he does a solid job of holding down second base, which is his primary position by trade.

The strengths and weaknesses are incredibly apparent within seconds of opening Estrada's Baseball Savant page. He doesn't hit the ball very hard, but he efficiently makes contact to all fields, lays off bad pitches and uses his wheels on the bases to turn a single into either a double or an eventual stolen base with the rest of them, as evidenced by his 85th percentile Sprint Speed.

3 under-the-radar SF Giants players off to a good start in 2023

3. First baseman/outfielder LaMonte Wade Jr.

Wade, 29, is another player who took a bit to find his stride in the big leagues, but he's shown time and time again why the Giants were smart to hold on to him through a rough 2022 campaign.

Coming off of a breakout performance in 2021 in which he hit 18 home runs with an .808 OPS and 117 OPS+, Wade came crashing back down to earth last year. In just 77 games, he managed eight home runs with a ghastly .207 average and 88 OPS+.

Fortunately, the Giants did not cut bait after his significant regression. Instead, they tabbed him as their starting first baseman and he has once again exploded offensively.

In 32 games so far, Wade has six home runs and 10 RBI, scoring 14 runs and posting an incredible .949 OPS and 163 OPS+. The latter number alone suggests that he's been 63 percent above league-average at the plate through the first month-plus of the season.

These numbers are great and all, but perhaps the most impressive aspect of Wade's performance so far has been his patience/eye at the dish. After walking in 8.7% of plate appearances in 2021, he bumped the number up to 10.4% last year. To start off this season, his BB% is all the way up to 20.3. He has drawn as many walks (25) as strikeouts so far, which is highly encouraging to see from a player who had previously struggled to draw free passes.