Hey! Good things might be possible!
The 2025 San Francisco Giants have one of the more exciting Opening Day rosters in terms of offense in recent memory. Well, on paper at least. Oh and let me be more clear: that roster positivity is relative to the Giants, not other, noticeably more successful/dynamic teams.
Potential and giddy projections abound — but well-grounded in reason, of course. This group will not take the division. Certainly not! Despite the improved personnel and improved health of the overall roster, this IOS update of the San Francisco ball club could feasibly find themselves come October in the same position as the bugged and laggy 2024 version considering the competitive nature of the league.
But even in these dark and dreary Dodger days, good baseball is still possible. There are still things to play for/against. History, for one. Recent dates and players are awfully scarce in the club’s batting record books. But take heart! Some individuals on the 2025 Giants might have the talents to overcome these years-long droughts and dry spells, these streaks of ineptitude.
20 HR – 20 SB season
19 players in Major League Baseball had 20+ HR – 20+ SB seasons last year. 19 did it in 2023. 103 individuals have met these statistical requirements in the past decade, and none of them have played for the San Francisco Giants.
Hunter Pence’s 27 HR – 22 SB season in 2013 was the last time a Giant slugged and sprinted to such heights. Turn the clock back 15 years prior to find another 20-20 season earned by a player decked-out in the orange-and-black.
This streak probably serves as some Universe-inflicted penance for employing the Bonds family, with father and son boasting ten 20-20 seasons each (both did it in SF 6 times). Throw in friend/ teammate/ mentor/ godfather Willie Mays’s six seasons, and that’s nearly two decades of 20-20 performances from just three guys.
That’s an embarrassment of riches, and in the eyes of a lot of other teams, San Francisco’s recent wanderings in the desert of individual speed-and-power is a fair shake.
This franchise funk could end in 2025. Twenty homer seasons are a dime-a-dozen. Stolen bases have been the tougher side of this equation for some time, but rule changes are encouraging more base-stealing, and players are seeing the value in reintroducing the swiped bag into their offensive repertoire.
Legitimate candidate: Willy Adames
Adames is coming off his first 20-20 season in Milwaukee. He has hit 20+ homers (nearly 30+ actually) in four consecutive seasons. Based on what Matt Chapman and Heliot Ramos did as right-handers batting in Oracle, a 20 homer total feels inevitable for Adames.
As for stolen bases, 21 was his career high by a ton. As I wrote in a previous article, stealing is less about speed and more about will. I can’t imagine Adames isn’t looking to improve on that 21 mark after last year’s success. The 20-20 seal is broken, he’s got the taste for it now. It’d be disappointing for him and the club and the fans if he didn’t kick off his Giants tenure with a similar season.
Outside chance: Matt Chapman, Tyler Fitzgerald
Chapman might be spurred on by his fellow infielder to make a 20-20 season a goal. He’s hit 20+ homers in five of his eight seasons. His 27 homers were paired with a noticeable inflation of stolen bases. 15 SBs might not seem like a lot but for Chapman that number doubled his previous career high. He’s got the itch now, just like Adames, not to mention the athleticism and intelligence (read: discernment) to slowly accumulate 20 swipes over a season.
The stolen bases will be the easy part for Fitzgerald, but I’m skeptical that he’ll remain consistent enough at the plate to reach 20 homers. He slipped into the offensive shadows after his initial outburst last year, and has some holes in swing that opposing pitchers will exploit. That being said, he hit 15 HR in 96 games. With a whole season to pad his stats and his latent abilities, it’s plausible that he ekes out 20-20 totals.
30+ stolen bases
The last Giant to steal 30 stolen bases manages the Doogers right now.
Dave Roberts #forevergiant.
Photo by Paul Kitagaki Jr./Sacramento Bee/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
Bad voodoo, man. Let’s change that.
Legitimate candidate: Tyler Fitzgerald
You don’t need to be “fast” to steal 15 bases. But to double that total, you need a little extra chug in your engine. Fitzgerald’s 30 ft/s sprint seed (in the 100th percentile in 2024) checks that chug box. The kid is fast fast. The Louisville Flash. Last season he stole 17 bases in 21 attempts, going on 3% of opportunities. Expect all of those numbers to rise now that he’s an everyday player.
Outside chance: Jung Hoo Lee
Articulating a specific goal is a huge part of achieving it. During camp this past month, Lee stated that he’d like to embrace his moniker as “Grandson of the Wind” and steal 30 bases. It’s a nice sentiment. Lee’s clearly carrying a chip (on his surgically repaired) shoulder after missing most of his first year in the Majors. He’s got the fire in his belly right now, and definitely trying to make up for lost time, possibly figuring that 30 would’ve been his SB total for both the ‘24 and ‘25 seasons.
Lee’s high contact rate and projected batting average will also mean he’s standing on first base a lot, giving him plenty of opportunities to break for second. I’m skeptical of 30 though for many reasons. One, he’s still new to the league, and without the speed of Fitzgerald, Lee’s success will be dependent a lot on his jumps. Great jumps come from great reads, and great reads come from exposure and experience. Tentativeness might be wise for Lee, especially at the start to observe, yes, but also just to be careful.
After the in the KBO, the shoulder and then the back this past weeks, there’s legitimate concern that Lee might be as fragile and as susceptible to cracks as a porcelain doll. Even if he isn’t, maybe it’d be wise to treat him as such. Weird things happen when you slide into a base, even going in feet first, even after doing it 60+ times without incident. All it takes is one wonky moment to ruin the vibes. That being said, you can’t play with fear, and Lee projecting 30 stolen bases in 2025 is his way of saying exactly that. Obviously, as fans, we want Lee laying out in center. We want Lee stealing bases. We also want Lee healthy…so godspeed, but dear god man, be safe!
30+ home runs
More penance. The Giants haven’t had a 30+ homer player on their roster since Barry Bonds in 2004.
It’s one thing to hope for someone like Willy Adames to end the two decade dry-spell, but I think, considering the tricky conditions of Oracle, sweating over cracking 30 homers might be more detrimental than anything. Bryan Murphy is right: if Adames, Chapman, and Ramos launch 27 homers each, no one will say boo.
So let’s pivot.
30+ home runs 40+ doubles
Brandon Belt in 2016 was the last Giant to crack 40 doubles in a season. No other player had been burgled by 3rd and King more than the Baby Giraffe. AT&T-ed should be etched on Belt’s tombstone. Somehow he still put together a humble, often under-appreciated career in that face of well-struck drives continuously being beat down in the cold air, or kept playable by the wide-open range in right-center. Belt only hit more than 20 homers once (29 over just 97 games in 2021), but arguably some of his best offensive years as an everyday player came when in 2013 and 2016 — years he hit just 17 homers but lined 39 and 41 doubles respectively.
Legitimate candidate: Matt Chapman
Chapman missed 40 by one last year. He also hustled out two triples while launching 27 homers — if he repeats similar numbers, scrounging up another two-bagger feels well within the realm of possibility. I mean, Andres Torres did it!
In his second year as a Giant, it’ll be interesting to see how/if Chapman’s plate approach adjusts to get the most out of Oracle. He showed off a lot of pull power last year, especially as the guy in the lineup last year — but with Adames shouldering some of that power load, maybe he starts looking to the opposite field more to exploit the right-center gap. At Oracle, that’s where the doubles be. But realistically, if Chapman did what he did last year he could just naturally run into 40.
Outside chance: Willy Adames
Adames also put up a career high in doubles last year with 33. He’s definitely within striking range of 40, and the change in home environment might lead to more doubles. Some of his homers that went out in the indoor Milwaukee will be kept in play in San Francisco, kick off the wall, and lead to him pulling up safely into second.
That being said, Adames is really good at pulling the ball in the air. He should just keep doing that. I’m sure Buster Posey wouldn’t have offered Adames a record contract if he planned on advising him to give in to the cruel environs and “settle” by seeking out doubles in the opposite gap. Oracle can do some hitters dirty, but I don’t think Adames is too worried about it.
.300 hitter
Yes, I know. The .300 batting average mark doesn’t have the same cultural cache it once did. Diversity in hitting profiles matters. Players don’t need to — nor should they try to — hit for average to be contributing members of a line-up.
The average isn’t over-valued as it once was, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have value. It’s also becoming more rare. Seven players across both leagues logged a .300 batting average (min. 502 PA — the amount a player needs to qualify for the batting title) last season. In 2023, it was nine. In 2019 it was 19, and in 2017, when Buster Posey hit .320, there were 25 .300-plus batting averages in the Majors.
It’d be pretty dang neat in Posey’s first full season as POBO to have a player snap that seven season skid.
Outside chance: Jung Hoo Lee
Lee never hit below .318 in seven years in the KBO. Though he only batted .262 in the month of games he’s got to play so far, we got a pretty clear sense of Lee’s abilities with a bat. Contact is a pretty significant first step in accruing a high average, and even in this higher velocity, sharper cut, bigger break league, Lee appears gifted at turning pitches into balls in play.
Most projections have Lee posting an average around .280 while Steamer preseason predictions have it as high as .295. Round that puppy up, and you got a .300 average. People and robots alike are bullish on Lee, and for good reason. That high of an average is well within his skill-set, but to do it this season, with his limited experience against the league, feels more like a “hope & dream” outcome.
But if anyone on the Giants is going to do it, it will be Lee.
Any other I miss?