Should SF Giants be concerned with young infielder's slow start?

The SF Giants are off to the races to start the 2025 season. Their record of 8-1 is the best in the NL West. However, not everyone has been perfect. Second baseman Tyler Fitzgerald has gotten off to a bit of a slow start. Should the Giants be concerned?

In 24 at-bats so far this season, the 27-year-old has four base hits and has drawn two walks. He has also stolen two bases. This comes after there were some concerning signs with his numbers during spring training.

Now, it is obviously very early in the season so it would be unwise to overreact to Fitzgerald’s slow start. There is plenty of time for him to get going at the plate. 

Should SF Giants be concerned about Fitzgerald's slow start?

Yet, it is hard not to compare him to last year when he was the hottest hitter on the team for a stretch of time. In 96 games last season, Fitzgerald slashed .280/.334/.497 with 15 home runs and 34 RBI along with 17 stolen bases.

It was probably unreasonable to expect him to replicate those numbers entirely, but the hope was he would still be a solid hitter for the team.

Even though he has gotten off to a slow start with the bat, he has helped the team in other ways. His defense at second base, a position he is still getting used to after spending most of last year at shortstop, has been good for the most part although he did make a bad error in the team’s home opener. Yet, he made up for that mistake later in the game with his legs, scoring the winning run on Willy Adames’ walk-off single to send the home town crowd home happy.

Fitzgerald’s speed is a great asset to the team, but he needs to get on base to make full use of it. Perhaps he is just a tweak or two away from getting back on track.

However, if his struggles continue for the next few weeks then manager Bob Melvin may have an interesting decision to make. Casey Schmitt and Christian Koss are both infielders on the bench who can play second base. Neither has done much either in limited opportunities so far, but Melvin may decide he needs to shake things up to get more production from the second base position.

The Giants are not at that point yet, though. Fitzgerald is just off to a bit of a slow start and he may very well start getting on base and looking more like the player we saw last year soon. Thankfully, when the team is playing well a player’s slow start is much easier to ignore. Let’s hope he can get hot soon to help the Giants as they try to keep their winning streak going.