Giants' situational hitting pays dividends

[Auggie]

San Francisco Chronicle

The soundtrack to the San Francisco Giants’ spring training featured hitting coach Pat Burrell yelling situations — “two outs, two on!” or “one out, runner on third!” — from behind the batting cage for players to consider as they took hacks in batting practice.

Productive situational hitting has been a focus for the Giants in 2025. Knowing they can’t count on out-slugging their divisional opponents or hitting a ton of home runs at Oracle Park, the team knows the way to success is executing with runners on and making RBI collecting a team-wide goal.

While crafting a 7-1 record entering Sunday’s game (now 8-1), the Giants were batting .282 (22-for-78) with runners in scoring position with an .821 OPS in such at-bats. Three of those hits have been home runs, which speaks to the success of a measured approach in scoring situations.

They were even better under duress. With two outs and runners in scoring position, the Giants had scored 21 of their 44 runs (47.7%) with two outs entering Sunday. Their .353 average and 1.081 OPS with two outs and runners in scoring position ranked second in MLB behind the Minnesota Twins, who had a .379 average and 1.24 OPS in similar situations entering Sunday.

Paywall: https://eedition.sfchronicle.com/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=&pubid=c125557b-9f70-4756-bc51-268770939d87&id=63485914-ef91-470c-8a41-dd37c84db994

Manager Bob Melvin quote (from the link): “It really is an approach that guys seem like they’re laser focused on. We stay on some things as a coaching staff and guys all buy into it, and a lot of those things are still going on. There are going to be times where we struggle with those, but to be able to get to a good start with a lot of these things is a confidence boost for the team.”

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Off to a good start: focuses on situational hitting, pitching, and defense. Kudos to Director of Baseball Operations Buster Posey, Melvin, his coaching staff, and the players.

[chicoescuela]

1. Humm baby

[Wonder Why]

2. Damn! I thought you were talking about the NFL Giants. And I was just about to buy their stock! 😁

[Brother Buzz]

3. I have to believe Wilmer Flores was at the top of the class

Wilmer Flores, our ace clutch hitter totally understands situational awareness and has been delivering....in spades.

[Auggie]

4. Who needs Torpedo bats?

About those bats: it might have been Flores -- or maybe Wade -- who says you still have to put lumber on the ball.

The 2025 Giants are reminding me of the 2010 Giants.

[True Dough]

5. Worth mentioning

that the Giants are also tied for third in fielding percentage at .994 and in fourth place in ERA at 2.85. They getting it done all around so far in this young season.

[True Dough]

6. Tough loss yesterday

Wasted a great pitching performance by Logan Webb. But Hunter Greene was dealing. That guy throws so hard! When his control is on, it's difficult to get on base against him.