Something in the water? Some Giants players have shrunk!
While we wait for the San Francisco Giants to conclude their series in Cincinnati this weekend, let’s examine a minor mystery that cropped up during Spring Training. Multiple Giants have seen their height change. The result of offseason dehydration? Too much computer use? Let’s get to the bottom of this.
If we compare the roster at the end of last season to what we got for Opening Day, then these changes leap out. Some players lost two full inches off their height! What’s going on here? Well, it’s not really much of a mystery.
Men are liars!
SI.com wrote about it a month ago. The new ABS system (automated ball-strike challenge system) has brought a bit of chaos to the ballplayer’s ego. Statcast has been a fine add to the baseball world, attempting to bring more facts to the sport with laser-guided tracking, but it’s also true that it’s really effective at raining on a player’s parade.
Amid the fungoes and photo days has come a new rite of spring: the couple of hours when Major League Baseball descends upon camps to measure hitters for the automated ball-strike challenge system (ABS) in use for approximately 60% of exhibition games this spring.
[…]
But first there are some logistics to sort through, starting with the dimensions of the automated strike zone. MLB has settled on a strike zone width of 17 inches and height spanning the length between 27% of a batter’s height to 53.5% of a batter’s height (roughly the letters to the knees when he’s in his normal stance). In order to get that height, they have to measure it.
The heart of the article lays bare a weird truth most of us probably assumed the opposite of: the heights in the media guide were more or less based on the honor system. It’s kind of hard to believe that in a multibillion-dollar industry where aging curves and specialty doctors turn these “assets” inside out to make valuations has had such a loophole.
I’m a short dude, so I just assume that everyone is taller than me. Whenever I’m asked how tall I am, I answer, “Not very.” I never considered the possibility that tall dudes would fib. Let’s take a look at what this says about the Giants (please, please know that I’m saying this tongue in cheek).
The Liars
Willy Adames | -1 inch: 6’0” in 2025, 6’1” in 2024
Maybe he lost an inch off his frame going from the Brewers to the Giants because he’s weighed down by that massive deal Buster Posey gave him? That’s the fun way of looking at it. He certainly carries himself like someone who’s 6’1”.
Jung Hoo Lee | -1 inch: 6’0” in 2025, 6’1” in 2024
It’s interesting to note that Baseball Reference shows him at 6’0” during his last season in the KBO, because if you go to this KBO reference page, he’s listed at 6’1”. That means the JHL database in Baseball Reference backfills that sort of biographical information rather than reflect the record at the time. I have no other point to make.
Casey Schmitt | -2 inches: 6’0” in 2025, 6’2” in 2024
His vibe seems like it includes a bit of bravado and so I can see why a dude who might’ve been on a team of six-footers decided to leverage his Alpha status to give himself the edge over his teammates. But still… that’s a whopper of a tall tale, Schmitt.
LaMonte Wade Jr. | -2 inches: 5’11” in 2025, 6’1” in 2024
I’m not mad. I’m disappointed.
On the other hand, going from 6’1” to 5’11” is explicable. If you’re 5’11”, why not shoot for 6 feet? But what if experience has taught you that people who hear “Six feet” assume you’re rounding up? This is the only reasoning I can understand that helps me figure out how one lands on such a discrepancy. Good job, lasers.
I suspect that in at least a couple of cases from the group above (Schmitt and Wade Jr. mainly), these discrepancies have something to do with playing multiple sports in their youths or — and, perhaps, most likely — a carryover from trying to meet women on dating apps (none of this group is married, but at least a couple have girlfriends).
The Honest
Patrick Bailey | no change: 6’0” in 2025, 6’0” in 2024
Sam Huff | no change: 6’4” in 2025, 6’4” in 2024
Luis Matos | no change: 5’11” in 2025, 5’11” in 2024
Heliot Ramos | no change: 5’11” in 2025, 5’11” in 2024
I feel this group falls into a “no reason to fib” grouping. There’s no upside. They also don’t seem like dudes who are interested in stuff like that, so they’ve only ever gone off what a doctor’s told them (how’s that for a person making something up and presenting it as fact?).
Christian Koss | no change: 6’1” in 2025, 6’1” in 2024
I even went to his milb.com page from last year to be sure. No wonder Buster Posey likes him so much. He’s an honest man, through and through.
The Modest
Mike Yastrzemski | +1 inch: 5’11” in 2025, 5’10” in 2024
Matt Chapman | +1 inch: 6’1” in 2025, 6’0” in 2024
Tyler Fitzgerald | +1 inch: 6’2” in 2025, 6’1” in 2024
Wilmer Flores | +1 inch: 6’3” in 2025, 6’2” in 2024
Did his offseason knee surgery give Wilmer Flores an extra inch of height? Probably not. But like the other two players in this group, there’s something fitting about all three of them being slightly off by their own assessments. They all exude a glow of purpose — they’re almost bigger than the numbers say (even Fitzgerald, who seems like a lock to be DFA’d this season and out of the sport after next), and if you’ve heard them speak at all you can feel their humble natures.
Now we need to figure out which pitchers are kidding themselves and messing with us.
/peruses the pitching staff
Hmm. Jordan Hicks is listed at 6’2”? We sure about that?