Promoting speedy outfielder helps to address glaring weakness for SF Giants

The SF Giants promoted young outfielder Grant McCray ahead of Wednesday's game. While he brings speed to the table, McCray helps to address a glaring weakness in terms of center field defense.

Promoting speedy outfielder helps to address glaring weakness for SF Giants

The Giants had a forgettable game in McCray's debut as they lost to the Atlanta Braves by a score of 13-2. McCray will remember the game for the rest of his life depsite recording four hitless at-bats. Undoubtedly, he will remember his second game as well as he helped lead the Giants to a 6-0 victory while notching his first RBI and home run.

It was a productive day as the left-handed bat dropped a bunt single to score the runner from third base. In his very next at-bat, he drilled a ball over the center field fence for his first career home run.

The Giants were going to protect McCray from the Rule 5 draft in the winter anyway, but calling him up now gives him exposure to major league pitching. His offensive skill set is still raw in some sense as he has posted strikeout rates above 30 percent at nearly every minor league stop. There is some swing-and-miss inherent with his bat path but he does a nice job of covering the bottom of the zone.

While making consistent contact might be an issue for the 23-year-old outfielder, he does flash some power, especially to the right-center gap. McCray may never hit 20 home runs in a season, but he will register a lot of doubles and triples to go along with a healthy amount of home runs.

The Giants would be thrilled if McCray provided any offensive output this season, but they are hoping he can help shore up the outfield defense. The Giants outfield has recorded -13 Outs Above Average (OAA) and -6 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) in 2024. In terms of OAA, they have the fourth-worst mark in baseball.

Mike Yastrzemski and Michael Conforto have handled the corners, whereas Heliot Ramos has seen the bulk of the time in center field in Jung Hoo Lee's absence. Unfortunately, the defensive metrics are not too kind to Ramos' work in center field.

Overall, Giants center fielders have combined to post -10 OAA and -18 DRS this season. Both marks are last in baseball by a comfortable margin. You could have probably confirmed this by watching a few Giants games. The outfield defense has been an issue with too many poor routes and fly balls finding the outfield grass due to breakdowns in communication.

This is not Ramos' fault. He was thrust into that role when there were no other viable alternatives. The outfield defense is better when he is handling one of the corner spots.

The Giants did survey the trade market for center field help but to no avail. Promoting McCray is the best in-house solution. The rookie outfielder is an above-average runner and has a knack for tracking down fly balls in the outfield. While Oracle Park is a tough assignment for any center fielder, McCray has the tools to be solid defensive outfielder.

Teams can get away with questionable defense in the corners, but center field is just a position where you cannot make that tradeoff. This has been a glaring weakness for much of the season, but the addition of McCray should provide a boost.