The Giants Baseball Blog

Prior to Thursday night's nice little offensive output of 7 runs in Seattle, clutch hits and runs were about as tough to come by as they've been at any point this season. My suggestion, and frankly something I'm surprised Bochy hasn't tried to do more of is mix up the lineup a bit. One of the big moves I have been pondering over in my mind is possibly swapping Matt Duffy and Angel Pagan in the batting order, at least while Hunter Pence is out. Matty D seems to be putting it together right now and is one of the Giants' better clutch hitters with runners on base and in scoring position. Mix that in with his respectable .293 average and .789 OPS to go along with 6 HR and 31 RBI and you'll see why I like the kid as a 3-hole option in Pence's stead. Not to mention he didn't start playing regularly until roughly a month into the season, and it makes the 24 year-old's numbers pop out even more, especially those RBI. Pagan has had a pretty decent year at t...

Well, as the Giants pick at 18 in the MLB's annual June Amateur Draft approached, one huge name stayed available that I was hoping would end up falling to the Giants, but alas, Brady Aiken was taken one selection before the Giants pick at 18. Instead, the Giants went with another young arm, and one that many had going in the top-15 in Southern Nevada's right-hander, Phil Bickford. SF takes RHP Phil Bickford 18th I don't know a whole lot about Bickford other than what I've read and watched in recent draft coverage and player previews. Bickford has bounced between the pen and rotation in his early baseball life, but the Giants' will most likely develop him as a starter and go from there. He's not as polished as Tyler Beede (the Giants top pick a year ago), but appears to have explosive stuff and a solid frame at 6'5" and 210 pounds. He's already been a top-10 pick, by the Blue Jays in 2013, but chose not to sign and instead attend CSU Fullerton....

Remember when everybody was worried about how the Giants would replace the offensive production they got from The Panda and Michael Morse when both departed as free agents over the winter? Well, a third of the way through the first year post-Sandoval, and without Morse's presence from 2014, the incumbents have outperformed their predecessors. First off we'll take a look out in left field, where Nori Aoki took over for Michael Morse and allowed Bruce Bochy the flexibility to drop Angel Pagan (who, let's face it, isn't the world's best leadoff hitter) down in the order and it's worked out for both. Although Pagan's power has yet to show up, he's been at or above .300 for most all the season and has adapted well in his move down the order. I'd like to see a little more pop and a few more free passes but I do like the average. Also, Nori Aoki has taken the leadoff spot by the reigns and hasn't looked back. Although he's had a few small down per...