5/05/2023

Giant killer


In April, when I was watching a baseball game on TV, a friend sent a message in a group. She asked why a player was benched in a game against the Giants. The main reason that she asked the question was because that player did hit well the day before. After reading the message, I was thinking which players did actually hit very well against the Giants. To understand a little bit more, I went to check on the statcast website.

Hits (Against the Giants, 2020-2022)

Player

H

Manny Machado

52

Charlie Blackmon

51

Max Muncy

44

Ryan McMahon

Christian Walker

41

Trent Grisham

Justin Turner

40


So, let’s take a look at the stats over the last 3 years. From 2020 to 2022, Manny Machado collected 52 hits in 46 games against the Giants. At the same time, Charlie Blackmon had 51 hits in 44 games against the Giants.

Machado and Blackmon are the only 2 players who collected 50+ hits against the Giants from 2020 to 2022. Meanwhile, 5 other players had 40+ hits against the Giants during the same period.

Batting Average
(Against the Giants, 2020-2022, min PA: 100)

Player

BA

Freddie Freeman

.330

Eduardo Escobar

.327

Charlie Blackmon

.309

Manny Machado

.301

Eric Hosmer

.294


In addition, let’s take a look at batting average. Freddie Freeman signed a 6-year contract with the Dodgers last March. He has been very productive against the Giants. Last season, he had 24 hits in 19 games against the Giants and in 2021, when he was playing for the Braves, he collected 8 hits in 6 games against the Giants. Freeman’s batting average against the Giants was .330 over the last 2 seasons.

Meanwhile, against the Giants, Eduardo Escobar collected 33 hits in 28 games from 2020 to 2022 and he had a batting average over .320. Additionally, 2 other batters each had a batting average over .300 against the Giants.

Home Runs (Against the Giants, 2020-2022)

Player

HR

Max Muncy

17

Manny Machado

9

Mookie Betts

8

Fernando Tatis Jr.

7

C.J. Cron

6

Wil Myers


Finally, let’s look at which players truly do a lot of damage against the Giants. Over the last 3 seasons, Max Muncy crushed 17 home runs in 47 games against the Giants. In particular, he blasted 8 home runs against the Giants in 2021. And, he’s the only player who smashed 10+ home runs against the Giants from 2020 to 2022. During the same period, Manny Machado crushed 9 home runs and Mookie Betts went deep 8 times. Machado and Betts can crush home runs against the Giants. However, Max Muncy is truly a hitter who hit the Giants hard.


As we can see, Manny Machado and Max Muncy had been hitting very well against the Giants over the last 3 seasons. It’s not a surprise to see players from the same division who can hit well against the division rival because they face each other frequently. So, how about this season? Do Manny Machado and Max Muncy keep doing damage when facing the Giants? By far this season, Max Muncy played 3 games against the Giants. He blasted 4 home runs and collected 11 RBI. And, Machado blasted 2 home runs in 2 games against the Giants. Oh, by the way, Aaron Judge collected 6 hits in 3 games against the Giants, 2 of those 6 hits were home runs. It’s been more than a month since the 2023 season began. The baseball season is a marathon. Let’s see whether these players will continually hit well against the Giants during the regular season. 

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