San Francisco Giants Will Have Improved Defense With Return of Injured Rookie

The San Francisco Giants have a chance to improve their defense from last season in a major way.

May 8, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; San Francisco Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee (51) during the game against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. / Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

The San Francisco Giants had plans to improve their defense this offseason, and they have done just that.

Mike Petriello of MLB.com took a look at which defenses have gotten better this winter, and the Giants were one of those team as they have a projected improvement of plus-18 runs.

They were not bad defensively in the infield.

In fact, San Francisco ranked ninth in runs prevented and 10th in Outs Above Average. Matt Chapman was a main reason for this since he was worth 11 Outs Above Average.

The addition of Willy Adames is going to help the team, too.

In the last two seasons combined, Adames owns the fifth-best OAA while preventing the fifth-most runs. He took a bit of a step back in 2024, but his defensive play was better than Tyler Fitzgerald's.

With him, the Giants infield should take a bigger step forward.

Behind the plate, San Francisco has one of the best defensive catchers in the MLB in Patrick Bailey. The 25-year-old ranked first amongst all catchers with a fielding run value of 22. He was also the best in all of baseball at framing pitches.

Their defensive struggles were not the fault of the catching position or infield.

It was the outfield that needed improvement the most.

Last season, their outfield was third-worst in runs prevented (-17) and they had the third-worst OAA (-19). The Giants also had the lowest success rate (85%) when it came to making plays.

A huge reason for that was the injury to Jung Hoo Lee.

He injured his shoulder early last year, but he is a full go heading into 2025. Per Baseball Savant, the rookie outfielder ranked in the 97th percentile in arm strength, but he had an OAA of zero. Still, his success rate (89%) was higher than San Francisco had as a team last season.

That injury forced San Francisco to play Heliot Ramos and Grant McCray in center field.

Ramos had an All-Star year at the plate. However, his fielding was subpar. The 25-year-old was worth -7 Outs Above Average in center field and his success rate was just 82%.

McCray has some incredible arm strength, but his actual fielding ability is not great.

The rookie was worth -3 OAA while his actual success rate was 3% less than his estimated success rate. He is a better option than Ramos in center field, but his bat holds him back.

With Lee having no restrictions heading into this season, San Francisco is getting a valuable defender back to in their outfield and should allow this team to boat one of the best defenses in Major League Baseball.

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