Five veterans the SF Giants need to step up to reach the playoffs
After mounting a small win streak, the SF Giants are officially back in the thick of the NL Wild Card race. To gain ground, they'll need to lean on their core of veteran players, many of whom have flashed championship-caliber skills but struggled in recent months. Here are five players that the team needs to step up, hopefully catch fire, if the Giants are going to make some noise down the stretch and reach the postseason.
SF Giants 1B LaMonte Wade Jr. runs the bases. (2023)
John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
Five veterans the SF Giants need to step up
1. LaMonte Wade Jr. (1B)
2023 stats: .255/.375/.784, 15 HR, 66 BB, 88 K
.300 OBP after All-Star Break
Wade has been a key part of the Giants' plans ever since he excelled in relief of Brandon Belt in 2021, hitting 18 home runs in just 336 at-bats and posting an OPS north of .800. His injury-wracked 2022 was one reason that regression hit the Giants so hard last year, and he's mostly returned to form in 2023, posting one of the league's best on-base percentages in the first half. But the Giants' post-break slide has hit him as hard as everyone else, and he's reached base at a merely mediocre level since.
When the Giants are going well, they rely on Wade's elite plate discipline to be an engine for building and sustaining rallies. At his best, Wade punishes pitchers who won't or can't consistently enter the strike zone, and he has the power to launch one out once they do. His excellent defensive chops make him a valuable player in almost every facet of the game. If he can't play up to expectations in the final month, it'll create a hole the Giants won't, and haven't, been able to fill.
Five veterans the SF Giants need to step up
2. Mike Yastrzemski (OF)
2023 stats: .232/.316/.753, 11 HR, 30 BB, 74 K
Activated from IL on August 30
Yastrzemski is the baseball player's baseball player. His professionalism, elite fundamentals, and clutch performance have ensured that he's been a clear net positive wherever and whenever he plays. That last point has been the issue this year, as he's landed on the Injured List at three separate points. Yastrzemski's July was as bad as anyone else's, with just a .143 batting average and a .570 OPS, but he has a chance to prove that was just an ill-timed slump.
In his first game back, Yaz showed his value by saving two runs in the outfield, once by preventing a runner on third from tagging with an acrobatic throw home and another time by cutting off a double in the gap to prevent a runner on first from trying for home. Neither runner ended up scoring. Those are the types of plays that add up over a full season and become especially important during tight playoff games. If Yastrzemski can get back up to his career 113 OPS+ on offense, he'll be a critical part of San Francisco's playoff run.
Five veterans the SF Giants need to step up
3. J.D. Davis (3B/1B)
2023 stats: .249/.305/.407, 15 HR, 43 BB, 137 K
32.9 K% since All-Star Break
Davis started off the season scorching, hitting almost .290 with nine home runs during April and May. Since then, particularly after suffering a sprained ankle, he's begun to tail off. He's in a more precarious position than either of the players mentioned above. Davis' elevated strikeout rate is just something you have to live with, but when it doesn't come with the power that balances it out - Davis has hit just one HR in August - all those unproductive outs get a little harder to swallow.
Even then, Davis is second on the team to Wilmer Flores in total home runs this year, with 15. He's got excellent versatility, being able to solidly play both corners of the infield while hitting about equally well against righties and lefties. When he's on, Davis will make you nervous to face in a close game without being a liability on the field. His performance in September will have a subtle but profound impact on how quickly and how far they'll be able to make it in October.
Five players the SF Giants need to step up
4. Mitch Haniger (OF)
2023 stats: .224/.274/.362, 4 HR, 9 BB, 43 K
The Giants signed Haniger this offseason because he's been a career .800 OPS who can bring the thunder. Unfortunately, the biggest impact of Haniger's year has been in his right forearm, when a hit by pitch sent him to the injured list for the majority of the summer. Even before that, Haniger only managed a .224 batting average with a .636 OPS.
Haniger, though, might be the best candidate for a huge bounce-back over the final month and change. Having now had an extended amount of time to settle into a new city with a new team and coaching staff, Haniger should now be more consistent than he was in the first month of the season. And while he may need time to ramp back up from his injury, bone fractures, and breaks tend not to linger in the way that muscle and tendon injuries do. With Conforto likely out for the majority of what's left in the season, Haniger has a prime opportunity to show off what he can do for his new team.
Five players the SF Giants need to step up
5. Alex Cobb (SP)
2023 stats: 3.57 ERA, 141.1 IP, 25 BB, 135 K, 1.30 WHIP
5.35 ERA in August (six starts)
For the past two years, Cobb has been one of the Giants' strongest pitchers, reliably backing up Logan Webb to form a dominant 1-2 punch. Cobb threw 149.2 innings of 3.73 ERA ball last year, and he's on pace to outperform that this year. To do so, he'll have to reverse a troubling post-ASB trend, where he posted just two quality starts in a seven-game stretch.
He's made good headway in that regard, throwing 8.2 no-hit innings on Tuesday against the Reds. Even if Spencer Steer's double just over Luis Matos' head means that the game won't go down in the history books, it's a sign that Cobb can still be one of the dominant pitchers in the National League. More than anyone else, a strong showing from Cobb in September will help the team feel confident going into a playoff push, especially with DeSclafani on the shelf. Strong starting pitching has been the bedrock of the Giants' past playoff success, and a rotation of Webb-Cobb-Harrison can go toe to toe with any team in the league when each pitcher is at their best.
