SF Giants Gold Glove winner considered dark horse candidate to be the best player in the NL West

David Adler of MLB.Com put together a really fun exercise recently to highlight the dark horse candidates to be the best players in each division. In the NL West, SF Giants Gold Glove winner Patrick Bailey got the nod as the dark horse candidate.

SF Giants Gold Glove winner considered dark horse candidate to be the best player in the NL West

Jackson Merrill (San Diego Padres), Gabriel Moreno (Arizona Diamondbacks), and Roki Sasaki (Los Angeles Dodgers) were listed as honorable mentions in the NL West. Merrill is probably not much of a dark horse after just one season.

The young Padres outfielder slashed .292/.326/.500 (130 wRC+) with 24 home runs and 90 RBI in 593 plate appearances while earning an NL All-Star nod. He also finished as the runner-up in the Rookie of the Year voting and received some down-ballot MVP votes. Merrill looks to be a foundational player for the Padres for years to come.

Not surprisingly, Adler mentions Bailey's defense as the clear strength in his profile. He was arguably the best defensive player in baseball as he led the league with +22 Fielding Run Value. It was no surprise when the young Giants catcher earned his first Gold Glove Award in 2024 and the club hopes there is more hardware to add in the future.

Of course, Bailey's offensive output has lagged behind. Adler recognizes that Bailey's bat has a lot of positives such as healthy exit velocities, a high line drive rate, and low chase rate. These are traits that above-average hitters typically have and Bailey fit that descritpion in the first half of the year but fell off badly in the second half.

The key for him will be to avoid the second-half slump that he has experienced in the past two seasons. It should be mentioned that the switch-hitter had just 28 games in the upper minors under his belt before being promoted to the major league roster, so a steep development curve as expected.

The 25-year-old backstop can arguably become the best two-way catcher in baseball even if he puts together league-average offensive production. Despite the dip in his offensive numbers last season, he still ranked third among catchers with 4.3 fWAR in 2024. The Giants hope that he can be even better in 2025.