A slumping San Francisco Giants offense got even more bad news this week when star third baseman Matt Chapman landed on the injured list.
Though X-rays on his hand came back negative, any amount of missed time for Chapman is a brutal blow for the Giants offense, as he leads the team with 12 home runs and ranks second to Heliot Ramos in RBI, slugging percentage and OPS. With Jung Hoo Lee (.239/.288/.352 since April 19 ) and Mike Yastrzemski (.181/.264/.234 since May 6) in the midst of prolonged slumps and free-agent acquisition Willy Adames still struggling to find his footing, the Giants have been forced make desperate moves for offensive production, such as signing free agent Dominic Smith and inserted right into the fifth spot in the order. The results have not been pretty, as the Giants failed to score more than four runs in any game from May 17 to June 4 and have averaged just 2.7 runs in their last 22 games.
Fortunately for the Giants, their steady starting rotation and league-best bullpen have kept them afloat during this period, and they are still just a half-game back of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West. At a certain point, however, their over-reliance on their pitching staff will catch up with them, and it’s hard to envision them catching the Dodgers with an offense that has scored nearly 100 fewer runs. The Giants are going to need some more offensive firepower, and The Athletic’s Jim Bowden believes they could find a solution in Baltimore Orioles first baseman Ryan O’Hearn.
“O’Hearn, 31, is my favorite target for the Giants because he’s been the Orioles’ most consistent player, slashing .316/.397/.500 with nine homers, 24 RBIs and a 158 OPS+,” Bowden wrote.
Though few could have predicted O’Hearn would put up this kind of offense production, the underlying metrics support the breakout. His .315 xBA ranks in the 98th percentile, and he also grades out well in sweet-spot % (93rd percentile) and hard-hit % (88th percentile). With Lee and Yastrzemski struggling, O’Hearn could be the perfect left-handed compliment to the right-handed power of Adames, Chapman and Ramos.
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