San Francisco Giants: Five Players That Need To Step Up
The San Francisco Giants have finally begun to start pulling away from the pack of wolves in the NL West. The Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Dodgers are falling behind in the standings, and it is fast becoming a two-horse race between the Giants and the San Diego Padres.
The two teams are very similar thus far: Low ERAs, a great first baseman, but otherwise mostly struggling bats. As a result, the two have nearly identical records, meaning that some players need to step up for both teams. Here are five that need to either turn a mediocre season around for the Giants, or need to take a good season and make it great.
Aaron Rowand
1 of 5
Aaron Rowand was once the face of the Phillies due to his toughness and drive in center field. With the Giants, however, he has been forgotten. There's a reason for that: he's been mediocre. In 84 games he's hit .247 and has fallen out of the starting lineup in recent days. He needs to either find his bat and get his average back up, or channel his once great fielding which earned him a gold glove in 2007 and a league-leading range factor in 2008.
Even if he stays a fourth outfielder the rest of the year, that just makes it more important that he be a spark for the team.
Freddy Sanchez
2 of 5
Sanchez is virtually the same case as Rowand. He played great for Pittsburgh for many years, yet in San Francisco his bat has pretty much went dead. He needs to find the .300/40 doubles man who once played. He might even lose his spot to Emmanuel Burriss if he's not careful. This means he has two reasons to play his heart out, one for the team, the other for his own good.
Nate Schierholtz
3 of 5
Schierholtz wasn't doing all that well to begin with this season. Since the All-Star break, however, he has been ice cold.He's even been cold since June began; in 77 at-bats he's hitting .182 with six RBI and a .550 OPS. I thought right fielders were supposed to hit.
You may have noticed a pattern by now. Not a single one of these players started in the August 9 game against Chicago. There's clearly a reason for that.
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Madison Bumgarner
4 of 5
Bumgarner's been pitching very well so far, having pitched in nine games so far, winning four of them with an ERA of 3.36. He's done nothing to worry the San Francisco pitching staff or cause any holes in the rotation. Then, why would he possibly need to step up any more than he has?
The Giants just designated Todd Wellemeyer for assignment, who Bumgarner took over for. This suddenly gives him little room for error, as they don't have anyone else on the roster who has starting pitching experience this season (sans Joe Martinez, who's pitched 11 innings this year).
It's not that he needs to step up, he just has to keep from falling back. The 20-year old suddenly got handed a fairly big responsibility in keeping that rotation a well-oiled machine.
Tim Lincecum
5 of 5
Tim Lincecum is 11-5 with a 3.15 ERA and 159 strikeouts. What could he possibly need to improve? That's simple: he's pitching like an all-star and a clear starter, but not so much like a two-time Cy Young Award winner.
This time last year, he was 12-3 with a 2.20 ERA and 198 K's. In 2008, he was 12-3 with 175 K's and a 2.68 ERA. In what's been the year of the pitcher, one would have expected his stats to be even better this year, not worse. He's not even leading the NL in strikeouts right now, as shocking as that seems (He's eight behind Roy Halladay, but could always jump ahead of him tonight).
He's pitched very well this year, as he always does, but very well isn't going to cut it in the NL West. He's the ace of this team, which means he needs to go the extra mile and dominate in his appearances. I'm probably being hard on him, but as the only starting pitcher with a win percentage over .600, he needs to keep that going; if he falls apart, the rest of the starters will as well, and then the postseason will only be a pipe dream.
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