Sitting 4.5 games back of a Wild Card spot, the suddenly hot San Francisco Giants (56-57) still have a long way to go if they want to make the postseason for just the second time in eight seasons. Even with a disappointing trade deadline that seemingly made them worse on paper, the Giants are playing well at the right time and still have a good enough group of players to make a run. Here are four players who will be worth watching for the rest of the season.
Marco Luciano
For the first time in his career, Luciano will have an extended chance to prove himself at the big league level. In May, he got a look earlier in the season at shortstop due to Nick Ahmed's injury. During his 10-game stint, Luciano, 22, hit exceptionally well, with an OPS of .986.
Luciano has never been concerned about his bat, which has a career .819 OPS in the minors. His main issue was his shortstop defense, as he made several costly errors during his 10 games in May.
Following the trade deadline, he was recalled and will see most of his playing time as a designated hitter after the Giants traded Jorge Soler. Since getting recalled, Luciano has a .539 OPS in 13 plate appearances. After striking out just five times in 27 plate appearances during his first stint, Luciano has struck out seven times since his recall.
Jordan Hicks
With the return of Robbie Ray and the emergence of Hayden Birdsong, the Giants moved Hicks to the bullpen after he made a career-high 20 starts this season.
The 20 starts were a tale of two halves for Hicks, as he posted a 2.33 ERA in his first 11 starts and a 6.42 ERA over his next nine. Hicks' first appearance out of the bullpen continued his tough stretch as he gave up two runs to the Rockies in two innings of work on July 28.
His second appearance came on Aug. 3 against the Reds, where he looked like the Hicks of the past as he topped out at 99 mph in two scoreless innings.
If Hicks can pitch like he did last season out of the bullpen(3.29 ERA), he would add to a Giants bullpen and give needed rest to high-leverage relievers Ryan Walker and Tyler Rogers, who rank first and third, respectively, in appearances this season.
Tyler Fitzgerald
After legendary shortstop Brandon Crawford departed after 13 seasons in The Bay, one of the biggest questions was who would take over as the shortstop in 2024. Ahmed, Luciano, Casey Schmitt, and Brett Wisely all had opportunities to win the job at some point this year, but they couldn't do so for multiple reasons.
Ahmed struggled offensively, and Luciano was a defensive liability. Wisely and Schmitt both showed flashes but are currently platooning at second base due to Thairo Estrada's injury.
With so much uncertainty in such an important position, San Francisco needed someone to step up.
Someone did. The Giants' biggest story of the second half has been the emergence of Tyler Fitzgerald. In 15 games since the break, Fitzgerald is slashing a ridiculous .351/.413/.912 for an OPS of 1.325 while leading all of baseball with nine home runs. He also homered in his last game before the All-Star break, giving him 10 home runs in less than a month.
Fitzgerald is doing damage against both righties and lefties. His slugging is nearly 100 points better against righties (.681) than lefties (.582) this season.
Fitzgerald's only issue has been his strikeout rate of over 30% since the break; however, if he keeps hitting at his current rate, the strikeouts won't matter much.
Blake Snell
While Hicks had a "tale of two halves," there is no one in the sport who falls under that saying more than Blake Snell.
Due to injury, Snell only made six starts in the team's first 60 games and looked very far removed from the Cy Young pitcher he was just one season ago. He allowed more runs than innings pitched and had a 9.51 ERA.
In five starts since his return from the injured list, Snell has numbers that would be impressive if someone was playing MLB The Show on rookie difficulty. In 33 innings, Snell has only allowed two runs (0.55 ERA) and eight hits (.078 opponent batting average).
This is the third time in two seasons that Snell has put together a five-or-more-start stretch during which he's allowed two runs or fewer in 30-plus innings. His last two starts have easily been his most impressive of the season. On July 27, Snell struck out 15 Rockies, which was the most by a pitcher in a game all season. Even more remarkable, Snell became the first pitcher since 1901 to strike out 15 while pitching six innings or fewer.
It seemed nearly impossible for Snell to top a record-breaking performance, but he did. On Aug. 2, Snell threw his first career no-hitter against the Reds.
While he didn't match his strikeout total from his previous start, Snell still racked up 11 strikeouts while only issuing three walks. In the prior game, Logan Webb threw a complete game shutout against a very underrated Oakland A's offense.
It took a while to happen, with Webb struggling the past few starts, but all the hype around having two of the best pitchers in baseball leading the rotation was well worth the wait.
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