San Francisco Giants: The Franchise's Top 7 Rookies of All Time

The San Francisco and New York Giants franchise has had six Rookies of the Year in their history. 

It would have been easy for me to plug those six in and find one more good rookie season, but I wanted to dig deeper than that.  I quickly realized that comparing players from 1889 to players from 2010 is not exactly easy.

In the interest of fairness, I decided that for the purposes of this list, I would benchmark rookie campaigns as either compiling at least 400 at-bats or pitching at least 140 innings.  Working within those parameters, here are my top 7 San Francisco and New York Giants rookies of all time.

If you think I have blatantly omitted someone or want to make a case for another Giant in his rookie season, please comment and state your case.

John Montefusco: 1975

The man they called "The Count" was a dominant pitcher from the start.  He posted a rookie season stat line of 34 games started, 10 complete games, 243.2 innings pitched, striking out 215. 

He recorded a 2.88 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP.  That was all as a rookie!

He was an intimidating presence on the mound and another in a long line of great Giants pitchers who came before and would come after him.  He won the Rookie of the Year award, beating out catcher Gary Carter for the honor. 

Montefusco would go on to become a Giants legend and fan favorite, routinely appearing at Giants reunions and participating in legends games.

In his second year in the majors, Montefusco threw a no-hitter against the Braves in Atlanta.  That stood as the last no-hitter for the Giants until Jonathan Sanchez finally broke through against the Padres in 2009.

Will Clark: 1986

Will Clark burst onto the scene in 1986 in a manner unseen previously.  Many players have hit a home run in their first big league at bat, but Will Clark did it against future Hall of Famer and strikeout king Nolan Ryan in the Astrodome, to dead center field on Opening Day.

Clark was shelved for about 40 games in 1986 with an elbow injury, but he still managed to put up the following numbers: .287/.343/.444/.787 11 HR's and 41 RBI in 111 games and 408 at-bats. 

But Clark was so much more to the Giants than just a stat line and Gold Glove defense.

Will Clark joined the Giants at a time when the franchise was in a state of transition.  The team had lost 100 games in 1985 and for the first time in recent memory had young talented ballplayers, and they were turning the fortune of the organization over to them. 

Clark was the unquestioned leader of that group.

Clark was loud and cocky and he was good.  There was no one that could match his on field intensity and his obvious love for life and his lot in it sparked a renaissance in San Francisco.  Will Clark was a great rookie, but he was an even better Giant.

Orlando Cepeda: 1958

Orlando "Baby Bull" Cepeda began the 1958 season as a 21-year-old kid with raw power.  He had all the tools to be one of the next stars in the league, and he didn't disappoint. 

Cepeda played 1B for the Giants, and the team finished in third place in their first season in San Francisco.  The man known as the Baby Bull or Cha Cha posted these as his rookie season stats .312/.342/.512/.854 with 25 HR and 96 RBI playing in 148 games compiling 603 at-bats. 

Those numbers earned him NL Rookie of the Year honors, and he landed in ninth place in he MVP voting that year.

Cepeda went on to a Hall of Fame career, but his greatest legacy for the Giants organization may very well be the Cha Cha Bowl at AT&T park...

Babe Young: 1940

Norman Robert "Babe" Young recorded one of the most impressive rookie campaigns that I found while researching this topic.  In 1940, Young batted .286/.367/.441/.807 with 17 HR and 101 RBI in 149 games and 556 at-bats.

The Giants finished that season in sixth place in the National League with a 72-80 record.  Young had seen one at-bat in the big leagues in 1936 and had 75 at-bats in 1939.

The left-handed hitting first baseman tore the league up the next year posting MVP caliber stats in his first full season in the big leagues.  Young ended up playing eight seasons for the Giants, Reds and Cardinals and never matched the year he had in 1940 again.

Mel Ott: 1928

Mel Ott had his break out season in 1928 after two seasons of very limited playing time (60 at-bats in 1926 and 163 at-bats in 1927). 

Ott set the league on fire with a batting line of .322/.391/.524/.921 with 18 HR and 77 RBI in 124 games and 435 at-bats.

Mel Ott obviously is one of the legendary names in Giants history, and he certainly didn't waste any time announcing his arrival in the league.  He helped lead the Giants to a second place finish in '28, finishing two games behind St Louis.

Ott also had one of the more unorthodox and identifiable swings in baseball history as you can see on the included video.

Willie Mays: 1951

Willie Mays was one of those special ballplayers.  The kind that shows up to the park to play, and everyone knows that they might see something historic out of him that day. 

That started right away, and the senior circuit took notice that they were going to have their hands full for some time.

Mays finished his rookie season of 1951 as the recipient of the Rookie of the Year award.  His style of play and effervescent personality made him a fan and teammate favorite, a fact that remains so today. 

Mays posted the following numbers that year: .274/.356/.472/.828 with 20 HR and 68 RBI in 121 games and 464 at-bats.

Willie Mays proved in his very first year that he was a game changer, someone who could score and drive in runs consistently and also take runs away defensively. 

He led the 1951 New York Giants past the Brooklyn Dodgers in a three-game playoff that culminated with Bobby Thompson's "Shot Heard Round The World."  

Mays and his Giants came up short in the World Series losing in six games to the New York Yankees.

Buster Posey: 2010

When doing the research on a list like this, it is easy to rank the most recent example at the top because their accomplishments are so fresh in the memory.  I purposely tried not to rank Buster Posey at the top of this list.  I placed him in every position and he always ended up at the number 1 spot because of one factor.  Buster Posey led the Giants to a World Championship.

Forget all of the number for a minute.  Think about what he did for the team, how he learned a talented pitching staff while adjusting to the league as it adjusted to him.  Think about how his insertion as the everyday catcher coincided with the beginning of the hot streak that put a floundering team back in contention.  Remember that he hit in 21 consecutive games at one point and that he hit the knock out blow home run on the final day of the regular season that sent the fans into a frenzy and the Giants into the playoffs.

Don't forget how he navigated the pitchers through the Braves, the Phillies and then the Rangers with an intelligence for the game that many veterans never obtain.  All four times that the Giants celebrated on the field last October and November, there was Posey sprinting out to Brian Wilson, tossing off his catchers mask, looking like he had lost his mind.  Buster Posey led the Giants to the World Series Championship.  They don't win it without him last year.

Just for good measure, here are his stats.  .305/.357/.505/.862 with 18 HR's and 67 RBI's in 108 games and 406 at bats.

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