© Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
ANAHEIM — After a strong spring training and even better start at Triple-A Sacramento, Mac Williamson was called up by the San Francisco Giants on Friday, before starting their three-game series with the Los Angeles Angels. He will bat seventh and start in left field in place of Hunter Pence, who hit the disabled list with a right thumb strain.
Although the Giants hope Williamson will give their offense a much-needed boost, he understands his place on the team’s totem pole.
“I’m definitely not a savior,” Williamson said. “If you look around this clubhouse there are some extremely talented players. I’m just trying to fit in and help where I can. I’m definitely not coming in expecting that I’m going to be changing things.
“I’m just a young kid trying to help out.”
After batting .318 with four home runs this spring, Williamson was optioned back to Sacramento. There, he smacked six home runs, including four in consecutive games, while batting .487 with a .600 OBP over 11 games.
“I felt really good. A lot of things went my way, I will say that,” Williamson said. “If I put the barrel on it, it seemed to find a hole or a gap or whatever. I thought I was hitting the ball really well and getting the right pitches to hit. Putting quality swings on pitches consistently, that was the biggest thing for me.”
The only thing he didn’t do was face a good amount of left-handed pitching.
When asked how many times he faced a left-hander, Williamson said he had, “one at-bat against Jared Miller, a lefty for the Diamondbacks. Really good guy. I can’t remember what he threw me.”
Nonetheless, Williamson isn’t worried that his revamped swing won’t help him succeed against both lefties and righties in the major leagues.
“It’s all about a game plan and executing the game plan,” Williamson said. “I think those changes I made will allow me to be more successful and execute that game plan at-bat to at-bat. To me, that’s the biggest thing.
“It’s not a lefty or righty thing, it’s more of getting into a position to hit, no matter who it is.”
Williamson acknowledged that, although his new swing has served him well so far, his recent success has come in a very small sample size.
“You’re talking about a handful of at-bats here, so you have to take it with a grain of salt,” Williamson said. “But it just felt like I was able to be consistent with it and I was able to do what I wanted. I felt like I was in position to hit whatever pitch.”
