On the latest episode of the Giants Talk podcast, Cole Kuiper and Alex Pavlovic discuss the Giants top priority in free agency, a right-handed bat. Would Seiya Suzuki, Kris Bryant or Nick Castellanos be a good fit?
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Logan Webb's home run was one of the most joyous moments of the 2021 season, a surprising cherry on top of a 107th victory that clinched a division title. It also may be a piece of history and go down as the last home run by a National League pitcher who started the game on the mound.
But Webb's homer was the only time all season that a Giants pitcher cleared the wall, and on most nights they weren't anywhere close.
Sure, Webb also had a triple and crushed another ball off the wall in center. Kevin Gausman will spend the rest of his life telling stories about his walk-off sacrifice fly, and Johnny Cueto entertained with his baserunning.
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For the most part, though, Giants pitchers were -- there's no polite way to say this and team officials don't even try -- pretty awful at the plate, and the man who put the team together won't miss watching those at-bats.
Farhan Zaidi started his career with the Oakland A's but has spent most of the last decade in the National League. He has an appreciation for double-switches and mid-game strategy. He also has absolutely no problem with the universal DH.
"With all due respect to our pitchers, who we all love, I think we had one of the -- if not the worst-hitting -- pitching staffs in the league last year, so maybe this universal DH will save us from ourselves," Zaidi said on a Zoom call Friday, smiling. "I think for most people it's just exciting to watch good hitters hit, so I think it's good for the game."
Giants fans are seeing more of that than usual these days. They hit a franchise-record 241 homers last year and finished second in the NL in runs scored, with just about every hitter in the lineup putting up career numbers or coming close. The pitchers were not along for the ride, though.
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Giants pitchers batted .090 as a group, which put them 13th out of 15 NL teams. They had just five extra base hits, drew 19 walks and struck out in 56 percent of their at-bats. Webb might be the heir apparent to Madison Bumgarner atop the rotation and is the only Giant in recent years who comes anywhere close to approaching Bumgarner's enthusiasm for hitting, but even he batted just .130.
Are you starting to see why Zaidi doesn't hate the universal DH that was put in place by the new CBA?
Zaidi said he's looking forward to having an extra spot, calling it a "fun challenge for us." It's also very likely going to add just one more advantage for a front office that has the Giants in contention way ahead of schedule. This coaching staff has proven to be very, very good at getting the most out of hitters, and the Giants can rightfully assume that their ninth bat will be better than just about every other team's option.
"Obviously it's sort of an organizational priority for us to have a deep roster," Zaidi said. "So having more at-bats to go around is a good thing for us."
The Giants actually got a taste of the DH in their first year under the trio of Zaidi, Scott Harris and Gabe Kapler. It was put in place for the shortened 2020 season but Giants designated hitters batted just .181 that season and ranked second-to-last in the NL with a .596 OPS.
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The Giants will be better prepared two years later, and they also will have a slightly different strategy. Kapler spread the at-bats around in 2020, including to Hunter Pence and Pablo Sandoval, neither of whom had much left in the tank.
In two years under Kapler, only one of the 70 designated hitter starts has gone to hard-worked regulars Brandon Crawford, Brandon Belt, Evan Longoria and the since-retired Buster Posey, but Zaidi said the DH should help keep Giants regulars fresh this year and into the future. He noted it will help with "workload management." Kapler doesn't plan to use just one player in the spot, saying Saturday that the staff is discussing how to rotate veterans in and out.
"It has a chance to extend players' careers," Zaidi said. "Not just guys that are relegated to DH-only duty later in their careers, but even guys that play premium positions if they have less of a defensive workload because they're getting rotated through that spot. It has a chance to help those guys as well."
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