The #3 story of the San Francisco Giants’ season was Rafael Devers making it clear that he’s still a dominant force at the plate. He can still hit and hit in any stadium, win or lose. This morning, the finalists for the Silver Slugger Award, which awards the best hitter at each position in each league — were announced and there he was, alongside Milwaukee’s Jake Bauers, St. Louis’s Alec Burleson, and Atlanta’s Matt Olson.
His injury shortened season still ended with 37 home runs, 36 doubles, 88 RBI,
69 walks (10.9 BB%) against 161 strikeouts (25.4 K%) for a triple slash of .258/.340/.525 (136 wrC+) in 148 games played and 633 plate appearances. It was fantastic to watch. One of the few great things about this terrible Giants season. It helps that it was on par with his last three seasons, too. Not some fluke. He’s also won the award twice before (2021 & 2923) and he had a better year this year than in those, rate-wise (133 wRC+ & 126 wRC+).
The Giants, though, have been on a cold streak with this award. Buster Posey was the last to win one, and that was back in 2021. Devers, as great as he was, doesn’t seem to have had a season that will snap the spell. His 136 wRC+ wound up being just 14th in MLB, behind Bauers (143). Burleson (125) and Olson (123) are likely ahead of him, too, because of average/games played (.279/160) and home runs (41), respectively.
Still, when people start attaching him to their mock trade proposals or we start to hear about him in trade talks, remember that he hit well enough to be a Silver Slugger finalist. He anchored a Giants lineup that wound up being pretty good. Certainly not the aspect of the roster that needs a great deal of work this offseason.
If you want to watch all 37 of his home runs, the Giants helpfully posted a video with them all to their YouTube page yesterday:
And here were his five biggest games by Win Probability Added:
5. June 27th vs. Atlanta: 2-for-3, 2 HR, 4 RBI on his Bobblehead Night
That first home run came after a rough 0-2 start to the at bat. The second homer was a golf chip shot off the fair pole that came in a count that was 0-2 for a very long time.
4. August 16th vs. Colorado: 2-for-5, HR, 3 RBI
There’s already a recurring theme in these highlights: at bats that don’t seem to be going very well. In this one, he has the miraculous “foul Splash/homer that becomes real” that we don’t see very much.
3. July 24th vs. Angels: 2-for-4, HR, 3 RBI
Not a home run highlight, but this was his first walk-off as a Giant.
2. May 11th at Dodgers: 2-for-3, HR, 2 RBI
Always a great highlight when it’s against the Dodgers.
1. June 24th vs. Athletics: 1-for-4, HR
This is probably an underrated candidate for top games of the season. Even though it was against the lowly Athletics, what a comeback!
