By Morris Phillips
SAN FRANCISCO–Will this be the 14th consecutive season without a 30-home run hitter for the Giants?
It’s been awhile, but for the first time in awhile, the Giants at least have some candidates, most prominently Brandon Belt, who has never hit more than 18 homers in his seven season career. He’s hit five thus far, and looks healthy, since health has been the biggest reason he didn’t achieve the feat previously.
Evan Longoria has hit 30 home runs in a season four times, all for Tampa Bay, most recently in 2016 when he hit a career-best 36. Andrew McCutchen hit 31 in 2012 for the Pirates. Hunter Pence hit 27 in 2013, Buster Posey hit 24 in 2012. None of that quartet seems likely for a breakout, at least not one that would take them past 30.
So how about Mac Williamson? Now that’s an interesting possibility.
In Monday’s homecoming, 4-2 win over the Nationals, Williamson’s sixth inning home run increased the Giants’ one-run lead to three. Not only hit at a pivotal juncture, it was smoked, leaving the park at 112 mph and traveling 465 feet, over and past Triples Alley. After the game, it was all anyone wanted to discuss.
“I just haven’t seen many balls hit there, even in BP, and with the wind blowing,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “That’s impressive. It shows you how strong this guy is. Big home run too, big moment there. It’s an area where few guys can hit a ball. And I think all his teammates were pretty impressed too.”
“I hit it well. But you never know here at AT&T,” said Williamson.
Talk about pronouncing yourself ready to take on a definitive role at the major league level, here’s Williamson’s path. First promoted in 2015, Williamson and Jarrett Parker both get opportunities given their power game and capable defense to assume roles in San Francisco. But over the last three seasons, neither emerged with injuries derailing both. Parker’s no longer in the San Francisco organization, but Williamson is, after regaining his health and refining his swing in the anonymity of minor league ball.
Fast forward to spring of 2018, and Williamson turns head in spring with some prodigious feats, but he’s still demoted to Sacramento prior to Opening Day. Left fielder Hunter Pence starts slow, and then is injured, clearing a path for Williamson, who hits .487 with six home runs in just 11 games with the AAA River Cats.
Then on Friday night in Anaheim, in his season debut, Williamson homers off Angels’ reliever Andrew Heaney, an opposite field blast that travels 434 feet and at 114 mph is the hardest hit ball to date for the Giants.
Quite simply, it’s a story that says Williamson has arrived.
Chris Stratton has been with the Giants all season and pitched well in all but his first outing. That string continued Monday as the 27-year old allowed just four hits, two runs, and bailed out the whole team in the sixth when two Giants’ errors could have been the precursor to the Nats getting back into the game. With runners on second and third, one out, Stratton struck out Matt Adams, and got Matt Wieters to fly out to end the inning.
In that stretch, Stratton relied heavily on his improved changeup, and didn’t get caught trying rush the ball to plate in a stressful situation. Last season, Stratton beat the Nats in D.C., striking out a career-best 10, and on Monday, he doubled down on that performance, beating the Nats this time with Bryce Harper in the lineup.
“Sometimes it’s his breaking ball, but he’s got confidence in that changeup,” Bochy said of Stratton’s repertoire. “And that’s a big pitch for him. And he used it instead of trying to power his way through them. That’s why he’s a starter, and that’s why he’s on this club. He’s got four pitches with command.”
The Giants have won three of four, and improved to 10-12 on the season. That gauntlet of an opening stretch–the first 28 ballgames of the team’s season considered the most difficult of any major league club based on last year’s won-loss records–now appears surviveable with six games remaining, concluding this Sunday against the Dodgers.
On Tuesday, they face under-the-radar Giants’ killer, Tanner Roark, who has allowed just one earned run in his last three starts against San Francisco. Ty Blach takes the ball for the Giants at 7:15pm.
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