What we’ve learned so far…

Just a fun Opening Week getting to know the guys

Two series under the belt, in the books, tucked behind the ear, in the rearview mirror — whatever metaphor you prefer, a week into the season the San Francisco Giants have given us a taste of who they are as a team.

A 5-1 road trip to start the 2025 season…shoot, these kids might be good. It’s easy, but very early, to make grand, sweeping assumptions about how the rest of the year will play out. Still we’ve learned something about this team and how they will approach the game of baseball over Opening Week.

Wilmer Flores has got his knees back

I didn’t realize how much I missed Wilmer Flores until Opening Day — specifically how much I missed his knees. His knees are the bees knees. The steeze is in the knees. If the human body didn’t have the patella our legs would just be a weak, uncomfortable femur-tibia chopstick set, good for nothing — especially not for getting around on inside fastballs.

The 3-run homer on Opening Day was obviously a cathartic one. Two-out, Ninth inning magic, a real back-breaker — but the pitch Flores pounced on should’ve been punished that way. That lazy sweeper from Red right-handed reliever Ian Gibaut had no business remaining in the field of play.

It was Flores’s solo shot, in the next game, in his next at-bat that was truly astonishing.

Lefty Nick Lodolo pumped a 94 MPH half-a-baseball’s width off the plate that Flo fouled away. Next pitch, Lodolo went with the same pitch this time right in on the hands. A great sequence of pitches, and the right pitch considering that, as Duane Kuiper noted, the inside fastball was the scouting report against Flores, sans-knees. But he’s a completely different player now. A Flores with an abundance of knees. He spun on the inside offering and barreled the ball into the bleachers in left.

With another assault on the Crawford Boxes on Wednesday, Flores now has 4 homers (against four different pitches) in 6 games, the first Giant to do so Barry Bonds in 2002. He’s all meat and potatoes. He leads the team in taters (4 of his 5 hits have left the field of play) along with 10 rib-eyes. The fact that a legitimate run-producer can hit in the bottom third of the line-up speaks to its depth, and frankly, it’s a luxury that recent Giants teams have not had.

Welcome back, Flo.

The Luis Matos – Mike Yastrzemski platoon won’t be a straight platoon

Going into this Opening Week, I assumed the Luis Matos – Mike Yastrzemski right field share would be similar to how it was approached with Slater and Yaz in recent years. A straightforward platoon this is not, the decisions will be much more fluid.

Luis Matos made his start against lefty Nick Lodolo on Saturday, and then after a 2-hit game, earned a start against righty Nick Martinez (0-for-3).

And it’s not just starting roster construction either, but also pertains to mid-game changes.

Down a run in the top of the 7th on Saturday, Bob Melvin kept Matos in to hit against righty reliever Tony Santillan. He singled. He singled again against righty Ryan Gusto in the 8th inning on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, leading 3-1 in the 8th with 2-outs and an opportunity to knock in an insurance run with a hit, Melvin let Yastrzemski hit rather than swap for Matos — Yaz struck out.

There have been opportunities for Melvin to press a button and make a switch and he hasn’t. The line-up isn’t oriented around milking platoon advantage for all its worth anymore, which frees Melvin of rote decisions. The only time a switch between Matos and Yaz has happened so far was in the 8th inning of Sunday’s game — a defensive minded substitution in which Yaz took over right to help preserve a lead.

On-field results are the law of the land now, and we’ll see more of Melvin rewarding past hits with at-bats, preferring more line-up consistency despite reliever’s arms. In the first week of games last year, Melvin made 11 changes mid-game. This year, he’s made 6. Game flow and situations obviously have something to do with that, but all in all, this roster just won’t have as many moving parts.

Bob Melvin told reporters on Saturday that he does not view Matos as a lefty-exclusive player. Looking at his career numbers, the small sample size splits are pretty inconclusive. The numbers aren’t great against righties, but the numbers aren’t great against lefties either. But what we’re seeing now is a different Matos than in 2023 and 2024. He’s not on the roster as an injury replacement, he’s there because the front office and coaching staff believe in his abilities.

He doubled to the opposite field on the first pitch he saw this year. He launched a homer in his first at-bat against Houston’s Framber Valdez, starting a 2-for-3 day in which he reached base four times.

Yeah, it makes all the sense they’d want to get him at-bats as much as possible

Webb likes his cutter…at the “expense” of his signature pitch

Logan Webb threw his change-up 42% of the time in 2023 when he was voted runner up for the National League Cy Young Award, and the offspeed offering was arguably the best in baseball that year. In 2024, he threw the pitch 31% of the time and saw a significant drop in its effectiveness. His frustrations for the sometimes capricious pitch are well documented. It wasn’t up to snuff last year, and it’s fair to say opposing hitters were seeking it out and punishing it.

In two stars so far this season, Webb has thrown his change-up 13% of the time. After his dominant outing in Houston, he commented on how he needed to adapt, signaling that the role of his change-up was shifting in his mix. He’s definitely been sinker focused so far, but the new toy in the toy chest — the cutter — is what is eating into the change-up usage. The fastball is at 14% usage, and the verticality of it is what excites Webb. What he experienced last year is the fallout of reputation. Every hitter entered the box with a shovel. They looked for pitches down in the zone, and when you look for pitches down in the zone, it’s easier to hit them hard or get them elevated. The cutter changes the eyeline. It pulls the chin up which conversely makes pitches down feel more down.

An elevated cutter fanned TJ Friedl for the first out recorded of the 2025 season. Webb got Yordan Alvarez to swing through a cutter in the 1st inning of his second start which put the rest of the Houston line-up on notice. The zone laffy-taffied, now having to cover the letters as well as the knees, and the change-up benefited, using it to induce two of his three double plays that evening.

First base is Casey Schmitt’s way in…or way out

The Minor League Gold Glove defender with a missile for an arm, Casey Schmitt has made three appearances in this first week, once as the DH (against lefty Lodolo) and twice as a pinch-hitter / first baseman. Positions that do not typically show-off, or require, great defense. On one hand, it’s unfortunate that obstacles block the avenues to highlight Schmitt’s original talents; on the other…the Giants have better options at these positions, so it’s no real tragedy. That being said, it’s clear the coaching staff likes Schmitt’s bat and want to find ways for him to get more in-game swings.

With Jerar Encarnación out until late-May / early-June, acting as the designated hitter against lefties is one way to do that. First base is another. He debuted the oven mitt on Tuesday after pinch-hitting for LaMonte Wade Jr. to hit against a lefty reliever Okert. The first pitch he saw he shot 379 feet to center — a quick out, but with a 102 MPH EV, a loud one. Those contact diagnostics bode well for Schmitt’s ability to come off the bench.

Playing first keeps him out of direct competition with righty back-up infielder Christian Koss, who made his MLB debut in Houston, and also partly explains the decision to go with a Schmitt-Koss bench rather than Brett Wisely. Yes, Wisely gives them a platoon at second, but it’s clear Melvin is more interested in a platoon at first. LaMonte Wade Jr. has been subbed for or subbed in more than other player so far. Schmitt gives them a right-handed swap without having to push Flores onto the field, thus losing the designated hitter role in the order.

Schmitt’s start hasn’t been seamless. He’s still looking for his first knock of the season (0-for-6). Nor is he a “natural” first baseman: short-stocky, right-handed. In his first start at first base, he went 0-for-3 against Valdez with 2 Ks, then got eaten up by a short-hop off the bat of Yordan Alvarez that led to two runs.

If he picks it, it’s a double play. If he’s wearing his middle-infielder’s glove, he probably picks it. No matter how good your hands are, a new position is a new position which comes with all its quirks and idiosyncrasies that often need to be learned on the job. Reps will help — but I’m sure Schmitt is also feeling the pressure to start producing. Grace abounds…within reason.

Heliot Ramos will face a lot of righties, and probably be fine

One of the simmering concerns going into this year was Ramos’s performance against right-handers. He hit .240 and slugged just .387 in 367 at-bats (more than three-fourths of his ABs last year) — a slash line that brought his .370 average and .750 slugging against lefties (108 PA) back down to earth.

It appears he’s made significant strides in whittling down that gap. 19 of his 26 at-bats this year have come against right-handers, and he’s hitting .263 while slugging .789 against same-side arms. 9 of his 11 strikeouts have come against righties, but so have all 3 of his homers.

The Giants are going to be aggressive on the base paths

A sign of the end times: the San Francisco Giants are stealing bases. They have swiped six bags in as many games – which is not a lot. It’s not the Pirates’ 19, but it is good for sixth most in the league (as of Wednesday evening), and certainly not what we’ve become accustomed to.

Through the first six games in 2024, the Giants had zero. The last time they had more than 6 stolen bases over their first six games was in 2008.

The thefts have been dispersed among five different players, with Yaz bagging his second on Wednesday. No one has been caught yet.

Willy Adames is going to strike out a lot — but also get hyped a lot

Adames already has 9 strikeouts, second most on the club after Ramos. We knew this was part of his game — he struck out 173 times last year. And we also know that despite the high-K total, the cubhouse vibes are the best they’ve been in years. Adames is a big reason for that. He’s a guy who can swing big, miss a lot, and still win. In this short week, we’ve learned that the Giants are kinda like that too. They’ve struck out 64 times with just 40 hits, and they’re 5-1. On Opening Day, they fanned 17 times with just 6 hits and still won 6-4. In their most recent game, they fanned 16 times, collected just 6 hits and won 6-3. The only time their hit total has exceeded their strikeout total, the Giants have lost.

San Francisco has been in desperate need of someone like Adames for a long time, someone willing to jump over the rails and celebrate the feats of his teammates. I mean, he got more steps in on that Opening Day homer than Flores did!

Over past seasons, the Giants’ energy level had been understated, aloof, stand-offish, bordering on apathy, with an approachability on par with a clowder of sun-bathing Parisian cats.

An infusion of effusiveness was needed. Adames delivered.

Look we have vibes now.

His bat might not be producing the way he wants it to yet, but it’d be near-sighted to think Adames hasn’t played a huge part in the success of this opening week.