Giants teams of the past have without question found ways to succeed offensively. In 2010, 2012 and 2014 it led to World Series victories, in 2002 it was enough to win an NL pennant and in 2016 the team played into a wild card spot.
This year’s Giants, who hold MLB’s best win percentage, have the same potential as their predecessors. But getting there, at least on the offensive end, has looked markedly different.
In 19 of its last 20 seasons, San Francisco has seen fewer pitches per plate appearance than the Major League average.
This year’s Giants team has been plainly different. Through 61 games, the Giants have excelled when it comes to forcing opposing pitchers to work deep into plate appearances. Their 4.06 pitches seen per plate appearance are the second-most in the league, barely trailing the New York Yankees’ league-best mark of 4.07.
According to manager Gabe Kapler, the Giants’ willingness to take pitches and work counts is the byproduct of renewed focus in that area.
“The group has been solid in that regard,” Kapler said Friday. “From a plate discipline standpoint, I think that speaks to an extended time period under our belts together.”
The Giants have put together a concerted effort to make extending plate appearances a cornerstone of their offensive strategy this year. In the first month and half of the season, they led the league in pitches per plate appearance, then traded for outfielder Mike Tauchman, who has been among the league leaders in the category over the last several years.
“On his own without any influence, (Tauchman) has brought his own style of plate appearance to the Giants,” Kapler said. “That said LaMonte Wade kind of has a similar style, Brandon Belt has a similar style, Buster Posey has a similar style and this year in particular, Brandon Crawford. The list goes on and on.”
Through 61 games, San Francisco’s hitters have demonstrated some of the best plate discipline in baseball, swinging at just 26.7 percent of pitches outside the strike zone, the second-lowest rate in the league. It’s nearly a 5-point improvement from the Giants’ 31.4 percent chase rate in 2020’s 60-game season and a 7-point improvement from their 33.7 percent mark in 2019.
“With how hard hitting has become, I think it’s as important now as it probably has ever been to have knowledge of the strike zone and to swing at the pitches that are pitches you can hit hard,” Tauchman said after he was acquired by the Giants in April. “I think that the biggest non-threat to (pitchers) is if the batter doesn’t put the ball in play. So if they can strike guys out, then they’re going to have success.”
The Giants have shouldered their bats on pitches within the zone, too, swinging at 66.9 percent of pitches in the strike zone, the eighth-lowest rate in the league.
Combine their chase rate and zone swing percentage and the Giants are swinging at just 43.8 percent of pitches overall, the second-lowest rate in the league above only San Diego.
While that plate discipline hasn’t turned into an extraordinary number of hits — the Giants rank 23rd in the league in that category — it has helped propel them to a tie atop the home run leader board as well as a tie for the fourth-most walks in the league, a critical statistic for a team that has thrived with runners on base.
San Francisco leads the majors with 46 multi-run home runs, nine of which have come in what FanGraphs defines as high-leverage situations.
“It speaks to the commitment the players have made on being especially aggressive on pitches they can drive and being a little bit more patient on pitches they can’t,” Kapler said.
Notably, there’s still plenty of work for the Giants to do at the plate. Their 75.3 percent contact rate ranks No. 18 in the majors and their 25.7 percent strikeout rate is seventh-worst in the league.
Kapler said it’s an area his players will have to continue to focus on.
“We always want to put the sweet spot of the barrel on the ball and make more contact,” Kapler said. “The more balls we do that with, the more likely it is our guys reach base. The more tough pitches we foul off and keep an at-bat alive, the more likely it is we get a mistake to hit or we win the battle and the pitcher walks us. Do we look at strikeout rates? Certainly. Do we want to improve those? Absolutely.”
The Giants seem to have figured out their optimal offensive strategy to win games: Sit back in the batter’s box and wait for the right pitch to come without getting too ambitious early on in plate appearances. Now they’re working on optimizing it.
“There’s more than one way to skin a cat in terms of scoring runs and winning baseball games,” Kapler said. “We certainly don’t think we have a perfect formula. I don’t think it’s ever going to hurt us to try and put more balls in play and make more contact. I also don’t think it’s going to hurt us to try to work pitchers more by laying off pitches we can’t hit.”
