Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow joined Murph & Mac on Tuesday morning to discuss the orange & black’s most recent signing, centerfielder Austin Jackson, and gave his take on what he brings to the Giants, and where he’ll land in San Francisco’s batting order.
“The resounding thing all offseason long has been to get better from the right side,” Krukow began. “And if you look at Austin Jackson’s numbers against lefties he rakes them, he always rakes them. In the National League West, with all the left-handed pitching you see, that’s significant. That’s an upgrade. What happened to the Giants last year in the NL West is they got torched in their own division. A lot of that was because of the left-handed pitching they saw. Some very, very good, outstanding lefties. Every team has outstanding lefties, especially the Dodgers who stack up with three. So they had to get better from the right side, which they did with Evan Longoria, Andrew McCutchen and now Austin Jackson, who is really good against lefties.”
Jackson slammed lefties last season, finishing with a slash line of .352/.440/.574. For his career, Jackson has hit .267/.343/.404 against left-handed pitching.
“Now I think for the most part you are going to see him in centerfield. I think with as right-handed as that outfield is now — and you talk about McCutchen and Pence and now Jackson — the two guys you have to watch this spring are going to be the lefties: Jarrett Parker and Steven Duggar…So I think you’re going to see a lot of mix-and-match, righties against lefties. I don’t think you’re going to see anybody — really with the exception of McCutchen — who is going to get out there and play everyday. But I do think you’re going to see a lot of that configuration: Pence, McCutchen and Jackson against the National League West. I think that was the goal this offseason, get better from the right side, get better against lefties, and they’ve done it.”
Will Jackson also hit leadoff spot?
“He has hit leadoff. Leadoff I think is one of the hardest positions in the lineup to learn, there’s a lot going on. You have to be patient, hit to the whole field, ideally you could steal a base, ideally you could push and crank one. You have to be a scout and be able to bring back a pretty good report on what you see. All those things take time, and I think the fact that he has done it, would allow Bruce Bochy to put him there without any hesitation.
The guys that you balk at are the young guys that have never hit leadoff. If the guy has hit in the leadoff position at the big league level, he’s knows how to do it. I would expect if the season started today, he would be the leadoff guy.
Listen to the full interview below. To hear Krukow on Jackson, start from the beginning.