The Giants have surpassed the halfway point of the 2018 season entering Friday night’s tilt with the NL West-leading Arizona Diamondbacks. At 42-40, the Giants have salvaged injuries among their aces and sluggers to remain in the thick of the division race.
Let’s review the season’s first half and hand out some awards.
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Brandon Crawford
Look at Crawford’s numbers after the first month of the season, and you’d be surprised he’s the team’s MVP at the halfway point. He slashed .189/.237/.300 from late March to the end of April.
Then everything changed.
Crawford slightly modified his swing and saw the results come flooding in. From May 1 to June 10, he slashed an astounding .439/.483/.697. He hit six homers, 16 doubles, and 27 RBI during that 36-game span.
Crawford has always been a tremendous clutch hitter, and that has rung true in 2018. He has two walk-off hits this month, including a solo blast that landed in the right field arcade to give the Giants a 1-0 win over the Colorado Rockies Wednesday night. It was only fitting that Crawford would put an end to the game. He has been San Francisco’s most stabilizing force throughout a season of fluctuating lineups and inexperienced starting pitching, the result of all the roster’s attrition. He has missed just five games, three of which came as he welcomed the birth of his fourth child last week, as every other Giants infielder has dealt with some type of injury.
As of Game No. 82, Crawford leads the Giants in batting average (.313), hits (86), and offensive wins above replacement (2.4). He ranks second on the team in doubles (20), triples (three), and on-base percentage (.369).
Crawford’s hitting has caught up to the level of his superb defense, which has been on display again this year. Crawford, a reigning three-time Gold Glover, leads the Giants with a 1.0 defensive wins above replacement, which is on pace to exceed his 1.6 output last season. His .982 fielding percentage puts him right on track with the best defensive seasons of his career. He has only six errors.
Crawford is the National League’s leading vote-getter at shortstop, meaning he will almost certainly nab his second career All-Star appearance in his eighth career season.
He’s been the most valuable Giants player, especially in the past two months. Brandon Belt is the only real competitor here, but an appendix injury that sidelined him for 13 games earlier this month hurt his prospects.
MOST IMPROVED PLAYER: Gorkys Hernandez
This is a no-brainer. No Giants player has undergone a more drastic transformation at the plate than Hernandez, traditionally known for hitting in the gaps and using his speed to produce. Power was never associated with Hernandez, but the Giants outfielder devoted the offseason to working on strength and flexibility to change that.
Hernandez, hitting .284 on the year, had four career homers in 525 career at-bats entering the 2018 season. He did not hit a single homer last season. The 30-year-old has 10 homers in only 204 at-bats this season, including in back-to-back games earlier this week, to tie for second on the Giants with better-known slugger Evan Longoria.
Out of an outfield replete with bigger names— including one-time National League MVP Andrew McCutchen, three-time All-Star Hunter Pence, and Austin Jackson— Hernandez, a career reserve, has engineered the best season of them all.
CY YOUNG: Will Smith
Both of the above awards were relatively easy choices. But picking a Cy Young Award winner on a team where all of its typical frontrunners have been injured for most of the year makes this harder.
All things considered, the Giants pitching, from the starting rotation to bullpen, has been solid. Their collective 4.05 ERA ranks exactly in the middle of the MLB. The bullpen has produced a 3.72 ERA, the 10th-best in the majors, despite logging the seventh-most innings.
The Giants’ top reliever has been Will Smith, who has authored quite the comeback story of his own. Smith missed all of last season and the start of the 2018 campaign as he recovered from Tommy John surgery.
Out of his 24 appearances this season, the left-hander has allowed runs only twice. His 1.17 ERA and 0.74 WHIP comfortably lead the Giants.
In the past month, Smith has averaged 1.73 strikeouts per inning, dominating opposing hitters with a four-seam fastball-slider-curveball trio. Hitters are whiffing on 35.2 percent of his sliders and 11.3 percent of his fastballs, both considerable steps up from his 2016 outputs. He produced a 2.95 ERA and 1.20 ERA two years ago, the best season of his career to date, but he has risen to another level in his 23 innings pitched so far in 2018.
Hunter Strickland’s injury begs the need for a de facto closer. Bruce Bochy has used Sam Dyson and Mark Melancon in that role, delegating Smith to a holder role. He has thrived in that position better than anyone, deeming Smith the pitching staff’s MVP 82 games in.
BREAKOUT PLAYER: Alen Hanson
Hanson has played about a decade of professional baseball, but the 25-year-old never had a full-time opportunity to test his skills at the MLB level until this season. The Giants signed Hanson to a minor league contract this offseason. He spent the first month in the minors and was promoted to provide hitting to a struggling Giants lineup. Joe Panik’s injury gave Hanson a full-time opportunity to prove himself, and he has done just that.
Hanson hit four homers and batted .298 in his first 14 games since being recalled from Triple-A. The injury bug bit him, just as it did to a good chunk of the Giants roster, when he injured his hamstring, sidelining him 16 games in the middle of May. He has since been used as a rotational second baseman with Panik and occasional pinch-hitter.
Hansen ranks second on the Giants with a .927 OPS, four stolen bases, and third with a .302 average. Hanson’s biggest struggle has always been his fielding, but he has not yet committed an error this season.
The Dominican Republic native has played himself into an important role this season, which may expand depending on Panik’s production.
PLAY OF THE SEASON: Andrew McCutchen’s 14th-inning walk-off homer
In his seventh career game with the Giants, McCutchen, the club’s marquee free agent signing last offseason, capped a six-hit game in the most fitting way.
Trailing 5-4 to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the bottom of the 14th hitting, McCutchen hit a three-run walk-off homer to left field. The moment the ball soared off his bat, an animated McCutchen knew the game was over. He trotted around the bases yelling and screaming, threw his helmet off his head after rounding third base, and hopped on home plate to a stampede of exuberant teammates.
WALKOFF. Andrew McCutchen, SO CLUTCH.
via @MLB pic.twitter.com/RE40NllzIK
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) April 8, 2018
This play was memorable for many reasons. It was McCutchen’s first signature play with the Giants, it capped one of the best games of his career, and it ended a 14-inning marathon against San Francisco’s arch-rival. The mix of emotion and energy in that final scene resonated with Giants fans long beyond that night.
BEST MOMENT: Hunter Pence’s walk-off single
Watching an athlete on his downswing, a three-time All-Star in what seems like a past life, facing a precipitous decline at the age of 35, author a game-winning hit is enjoyable for everyone involved. Such was the situation for Giants outfielder Hunter Pence, who has been forced to cope with injury, age, restless fans calling for his departure, and the rapid realization that he is simply no longer what he used to be.
For a moment, in the most important at-bat of the game, he was. Trailing to the San Diego Padres 2-1 last Sunday, facing an 0-2 count, Pence hit a double down the right field line to give the Giants the walk-off win.
It’s a walk-off win for the #SFGiants thanks to Hunter Pence. pic.twitter.com/mASargiWxM
— Today in MLB (@TodayintheMLB) June 24, 2018
Everyone on the Giants side reacted cathartically, from Pence, to his teammates, and coaches.
#WALKOFF!!
HUNTER PENCE IS NEXT LEVEL!!
Giants win, 3-2!
#SFGiants pic.twitter.com/dLdppxFtTC
— San Francisco Giants (@SFGiants) June 24, 2018
Pence equated the walk-off to Christmas morning and added it is something he dreams of.
“It’s been a tough road for him,” said Bochy postgame, who added he was “ecstatic” for Pence.
Pence has periodically been benched in favor of the Giants’ younger options. Hernandez’s emergence in center field has not helped Pence’s playing prospects.
Yet he is still a valuable voice in the clubhouse, and as last Sunday showed, capable of coming through in the clutch.
