SF Giants Player Review: Turner Hill got hot, but his bat needs to be more consistent

The SF Giants Player Review train keeps on chugging along and today we will take a look at outfielder Turner Hill. The rookie did some positive things in 2026 but if he is going to stick around at the big league level then he’s going to have to be more consistent at the plate.

It’s worth going into Hill’s backstory a bit because the fact he even made it to the big leagues is pretty remarkable. He played his college ball at small schools in his native Ohio and went undrafted but the Giants signed him in 2023 since former president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi was impressed with his stats.

Hill steadily made his way through the minors and put up decent numbers, but not ones that necessarily jumped off the page until 2026. He began the year in Double-A with the Richmond Flying Squirrels and hit .344/.476/.531 there which earned him a promotion to Triple-A Sacramento.

With the River Cats he hit .353/.420/.529 with nine home runs and 60 runs batted in. He also stole 23 bases and walked 37 times while striking out just 31 times.

He definitely earned his call-up in August which came about a week after the trade deadline and it didn’t take him long to do some impressive things at the plate. He had a four-hit game in early September which brought his batting average up to .342.

Unfortunately he cooled off after that and finished the season with a pretty pedestrian slash line of .219/.306/.314 with one homer, 16 RBI, two stolen bases and one caught stealing, and 13 walks compared to 21 strikeouts in 124 plate appearances.

Giants need Hill to hit better if he wants to stick

In order for Hill to be a valuable player at the big league level, he has to get more hits. He’s similar to Luis Arraez in that he’s a left-handed contact hitter who is never going to hit for a lot of power but if he thrives at putting the ball in play there could be a role for him.

It will be interesting to see how he factors into the equation in 2027. Maybe he could form a platoon in left field with Victor Bericoto but the Giants would probably opt for a Bericoto-Bo Davidson platoon just given the fact they have more power.

Even if Hill begins the season in the minors he’s a guy to look out for especially if he gets hot and can remain hot at the big league level. He doesn’t necessarily have to hit .300 but contact is his game so he needs to consistently put the ball in play. 

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