SF Giants third base coach is so bad he's making fans miss Matt Williams

The SF Giants have had a very rough week as they got swept in Philadelphia and then got shut out yet again on Friday night against the Tampa Bay Rays. While the team as a whole is struggling, it’s never a good thing when the spotlight is shone on the third base coach and Hector Borg has certainly had a rough couple of days.

On Thursday in Philadelphia, Borg came under fire for failing to send Drew Gilbert home when he would’ve easily been safe in extra innings. To try to be fair to him, it was a bit of a weird play as the ball deflected off the second baseman and went into shallow center, but Borg was way too cautious for not sending Gilbert.

SF Giants have a problem with third base coach Hector Borg

Borg tried to justify it after the game by saying with the heart of the lineup coming up he felt comfortable playing it safe, but that didn’t work out as the Giants failed to score and the Phillies walked it off the next inning.

Then, on Friday night he chose to send Luis Arraez as he rounded second base which was an awful decision as he got thrown out by several feet at third base. Again, it was a weird play as the ball was deflected at first base and was in foul territory in right field when it was fielded, but Borg completely wasted what should have been a nice opportunity to score and the Giants got shut out in the game.

He also made an aggressive send against the Los Angeles Dodgers which resulted in Jung Hoo Lee getting thrown out and shaken up at home plate on the play and also played a key role in Dalton Rushing's villain origin story.

Third base coaches have a tough job. Seemingly all of them go through a stretch where fans get mad at them or criticize them. But Borg’s rough few days are even making some fans wish that Matt Williams was still around.

Williams was San Francisco’s third base coach the last two seasons under Bob Melvin and he would often take heat from fans for poor decisions when it came to sending or holding runners.

That’s how bad it’s gotten. Fans are pining for the days of Matt Williams.

If things get much worse, fans might call for Ron Wotus to reprise his role as third base coach. He’s currently in the dugout with the team during home games so maybe he’d be willing to go back out there if things got bad enough.

There also has to be some regret that the Giants were unable to retain Mark Hallberg who would have been an ideal guy to slot in at third base. He’s friends with Buster Posey as they played together at Florida State and he was the third base coach after Wotus retired after the 2021 season, but he was hired away to be the bench coach for the Minnesota Twins.

It is Borg’s first year as a big league third base coach so maybe these are just some natural growing pains and he will get more comfortable in the role going forward. But if he keeps on messing up then manager Tony Vitello may have no other choice than to make a change. 

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