LOS ANGELES — Tyler Fitzgerald and his family rented a cabin at Lake Tahoe for the All-Star break. They spent plenty of time outdoors and the weather was perfect. He knew the sun could be stronger at high elevation. But he didn’t exactly slather himself with SPF-100. Baseball tans have a lot in common with farmer tans. Fitzgerald figured it wouldn’t hurt to introduce a little color to areas that generally don’t absorb much Vitamin D.
Advertisem*nt
The sensation started to hit him in the late afternoon on the first day. He was flushed and prickly with regret. He’d overdone it. His sunburn felt like his body was radiating heat. By the time the Giants resumed their schedule with three games in Colorado, Fitzgerald was shedding more skin than a Burmese python.
Fitzgerald’s sunburn is much better now. But he hasn’t stopped radiating heat.
With a solo shot in the second inning at Dodger Stadium Tuesday night, Fitzgerald became the first Giants hitter in 20 years and the first rookie in franchise history to hit a home run in five consecutive games. His homer Tuesday came on the heels of a solo shot Monday night in Los Angeles. He’d also gone deep Saturday and Sunday at Coors Field and homered in his last start prior to the break, July 9 at home against Toronto.
Did Fitzgerald want to venture a guess at the previous Giant to homer in five consecutive games?
“Probably Barry?” Fitzgerald said. “He’s done it multiple times too, right?”
Correct. Barry Bonds even managed to do it multiple times within the same season. Bonds had two streaks of at least five games with a homer in 2001, when he set the single-season major-league record with 73. Bonds also did it in 2003 and again in 2004, when he hit eight over a seven-game span.
“Seven in a row?” Fitzgerald said. “OK. Well. We’ve got (Dodgers ace Tyler) Glasnow tomorrow. So I’m not going to get ahead of myself here.”
Tyler Fitzgerald has homered in FIVE straight games: pic.twitter.com/JYwQRujjtH
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) July 24, 2024
Nobody can count on a home run streak to continue. But it’s a near certainty that Fitzgerald will be in the lineup and get a chance to try. That’s probably the most important part for an athletic and toolsy 26-year-old who is creating a chance to stick not just as a big-league utility player but as an everyday shortstop.
Advertisem*nt
Fitzgerald’s emergence is a reminder that big-league success isn’t measured only in wins and losses. There might be some aloe vera in that reminder Tuesday night after the Giants sustained a stinging 5-2 loss, dropped their fourth game out of five since the break, and matched their season-low water mark of six games under .500.
Are the Giants careening into sell mode as the trade deadline approaches Tuesday?
Manager Bob Melvin said he tends to put those thoughts out of his mind but acknowledged that “you can’t help but know where we are. There’s some other teams separating a little bit and we’re dropping farther back. We’ve talked about the cavalry coming, but we need to do it now. So we’re gonna have to wear this one a little bit today and come out and win a game tomorrow. Because the more we dig a hole for ourselves, the tougher it’s going to be.”
Grant Brisbee created a blueprint for what a successful August and September might look like for the Giants if wins and losses aren’t the only criteria. Part of that blueprint will be to keep giving Fitzgerald the space to grow into someone who could become an everyday asset at a premium position. But Fitzgerald isn’t the only player who will require some repotting as the Giants attempt to develop players both young and not so young while also finding out if this group of players has a hot streak left in them.
Here are three players whose performances will be worth watching down the stretch.
Tyler Fitzgerald
Melvin was asked: Is he riding the hot hand, or could Fitzgerald really turn into something?
“I hope, right?” Melvin said. “There are a lot of people in our organization, in development, who feel this way about him, that it’s just a matter of time and (with) some experience and consistent at-bats that this could happen with him. … This guy’s got incredible ability. He’s got power. He’s got speed. He’s got everything you want. It’s cutting down on the strikeouts and getting good pitches to hit, which he’s doing right now.”
Advertisem*nt
Fitzgerald gained a measure of roster security when the Giants released veteran shortstop Nick Ahmed prior to the break. Growing his role from there has been an easy decision for the Giants — perhaps even easier than the decision to make All-Star outfielder Heliot Ramos an everyday player when he seized his chance in May.
Fitzgerald is emerging from a potential platoon at short with Brett Wisely, who is getting more time at second base as Thairo Estrada’s on-base issues have made him borderline unplayable. It’s not just the home runs that are keeping Fitzgerald in the lineup. He’s recovered from some early defensive blips at shortstop, too.
“I’m concentrating on short and second so it’s been a little bit easier but there’s still room to improve,” Fitzgerald said. “Struggling in the beginning of the year, the game just sped up and the moment got a little big on me. I’m just trying to stay relaxed out there. If the ball’s hit to me, it’s hit to me. I can’t worry about it beforehand like I used to.”
And at the plate?
“I’m just hitting their mistakes,” Fitzgerald said. “I’m getting here early and preparing the right way and just taking advantage of how I’m feeling right now, because in this game, it never lasts.”
Tyler Fitzgerald joined some pretty decent company 🐐 pic.twitter.com/XZITPp6kO7
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) July 24, 2024
Said Melvin: “There’s a lot of calmness to his game right now, whereas early on he probably wasn’t as secure with where he was at the big-league level. He wasn’t getting to play consistently. He was up and down, which is hard to do. He was in a utility-type role, pinch running and playing different positions, which is tough on a young player. There’s a lot of talent there. It’s similar to Ramos. And it’s coming out right now with consistent playing time and some confidence.”
It’s consistent at-bat quality that will determine whether Fitzgerald can avoid the slumps that might force him to the bench. He displayed plenty of that Tuesday night. He set aside the temptation to swing for the fences while in a home run groove and instead drew a walk and contributed a pair of singles, including an RBI hit in the ninth that brought the tying run to the plate.
Advertisem*nt
“I’ve had similar stretches like this in the minor leagues but to finally do it here is a sigh of relief and feels pretty good,” Fitzgerald said of the homer streak. “It’s incredible. It means a lot. But I try not to think about it. I’ll go home and shut my mind off. I’ve got a lot of people texting me. It can get into your head a little bit. So I’ll just try to come back and help us win tomorrow.
“If the streak ends tomorrow, I really don’t care. Hopefully, we can just win the game. That would be cool.”
It would also be cool if the Giants tried out a Fitzgerald-Marco Luciano double-play combination at some point this season.
Jordan Hicks
The Giants have spent more than a half-billion over the past two offseasons while signing a slew of free agents. Most of them have either been underwhelming (Jorge Soler, Michael Conforto, jury’s still out on Blake Snell) or amounted to near-total write-downs (Mitch Haniger, Ross Stripling, Luke Jackson, Tom Murphy). It’s not entirely cherry-picking to point out an even longer history of free-agent duds (signing Tommy La Stella, extending Anthony DeSclafani). The year of dominance that the Giants got out of Carlos Rodón in 2022 might stand as the only legitimate free-agent gold strike of the Farhan Zaidi era.
What does it say when left-hander Taylor Rogers is one of the Giants’ better free-agent investments over the past two offseasons, and he’s being used almost exclusively in low-leverage situations?
Free-agent signee Matt Chapman, of course, has generated plenty of WAR between his Gold Glove defense at third base and his occasional hot streaks at the plate. Jung Hoo Lee is a $113 million investment with a hold rating after he sustained a season-ending shoulder injury in the 37th game of his six-year contract. And critically, the Giants are still figuring out what their $44 million agreement with Jordan Hicks will get them over the life of his four-year deal.
The early returns were boffo. In his first 11 starts through May 25, Hicks had a 2.33 ERA, a 1.16 WHIP and the Giants were 6-5 in his outings. But Hicks, a converted reliever, started to wear down even before he surpassed his career high for innings. And it’s been a double whammy that he’s had to work so much harder at a time when he has less in the tank. You need a snowplow to deal with the accumulation of baserunners over his last nine starts. He has a 1.94 WHIP and 6.42 ERA over that span. The Giants have lost seven of those nine starts including Tuesday night’s outing when Hicks pitched on 11 days of rest yet still labored to get through just 3 2/3 innings while issuing five walks and hitting a batter.
Advertisem*nt
“Obviously it’s tough for him to get through five innings right now,” Melvin said. “Some of his early pitches he had the best velo we’ve seen in a while, but not consistently. Slider didn’t have the bite on it he had early in the season. He got strikeouts when he needed to, but obviously the last pitch drove him out of the game.”
Prior to the game, Melvin indicated that Hicks would get one more start on the upcoming homestand and then the team would hammer out a plan with the right-hander to finish the season in a relief or tandem starter role. After his messy start Tuesday night, though, Hicks acknowledged that the cord might be pulled earlier than that.
“I figured this might be my last one or the next one,” Hicks said. “I tried to leave it all out there. If I get another one, I’ll go battle. … No firm decisions now. We’ll have open discussions after my next start or maybe tomorrow and talk about it, see what’s up.”
Hicks showed enough promise as a starter in April and May for the Giants to feel good about penciling him into next season’s rotation. There’s no need to scrap the experiment after the first season of a four-year contract. But it’ll be important to him and the Giants that Hicks ends the season in a healthy and confident frame of mind. He’s at 98 2/3 innings now. Sketching out another 25 or 30 should give him a good base to build upon next season.
Robbie Ray
For all the Giants invested in Snell, they placed an even larger bet that Ray will resemble the pitcher who led the American League in strikeouts while winning the Cy Young Award in 2021. Snell would get $62 million if he doesn’t opt out next season. The Giants would pay Ray $74 million through 2026 if he doesn’t opt out after this season.
It’s important to remember that Ray isn’t just coming back from Tommy John surgery to reconstruct his elbow ligament. He had his flexor tendon repaired, too. Both are significant surgeries. The recovery from both at the same time remains somewhat dicey.
“That’s why we wanted to make sure he checked all the markers along the way,” Melvin said. “And he really did. There really weren’t any setbacks at all, which was pretty amazing.”
Advertisem*nt
The Giants might be too far buried in the NL wild card standings for Ray to be a difference-maker this season. But his highly anticipated debut Wednesday at Dodger Stadium will have major ramifications beyond their glimmer of a chance to be a playoff team this season. A potential rotation fronted by Logan Webb and Ray, plus Snell if he isn’t traded and doesn’t opt out, still seems like a heart-quickening starting point for whatever roster building the Giants do in the offseason (and for whoever is doing the building).
It won’t be the end of the world if Ray gets touched up a bit in his Giants debut. But a solid start and a display of strikeout stuff would be a morale boost right now for a franchise that could use a soothing thought or two. Anything would be better than the uncomfortable and prickly feeling they’ll get from checking the standings.
(Photo of Tyler Fitzgerald from Monday night’s game: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)
Andrew Baggarly is a senior writer for The Athletic and covers the San Francisco Giants. He has covered Major League Baseball for more than two decades, including the Giants since 2004 for the Oakland Tribune, San Jose Mercury News and Comcast SportsNet Bay Area. He is the author of two books that document the most successful era in franchise history: “A Band of Misfits: Tales of the 2010 San Francisco Giants” and “Giant Splash: Bondsian Blasts, World Series Parades and Other Thrilling Moments By the Bay.” Follow Andrew on Twitter @extrabaggs
