From 1993 to 2007, a remarkable 15-year stretch, left field in San Francisco was a mine that never ran out of gold.
The jackpot Barry Bonds, the greatest home-run hitter in the history of Major League baseball, provided the Giants organization was akin to the one the most successful gold miners found in California back in the late 1840s.
But as the miners –and the Giants– would eventually learn, every well dries up, and only those who adapt are able to forge on successfully.
When Bonds retired, San Francisco shifted its organizational philosophy, and the attention the Giants paid to crafting a top-tier pitching rotation and building around catcher Buster Posey helped yield the franchise three World Series titles. But along the way, San Francisco failed to find a long-term solution for evolving in left field, and by the start of the 2017 season, a mine that once glittered brighter than the rest, no longer offered any gold.
Since the beginning of the 2008 season, San Francisco has used 10 different starting left fielders on Opening Day, searching for a player who can provide some semblance of stability or consistency in the post-Bonds era.
At times, the Giants have opted for power bats like Pat Burrell and Michael Morse, while in other seasons, the franchise has prioritized assets with better base running and fielding abilities like Nori Aoki and Andres Torres. The first post-Bonds Opening Day lineup featured current Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, while the most recent featured homegrown outfielder Jarrett Parker. Along the way, television analyst Mark DeRosa, rally thong bearer Aubrey Huff, and former second round draft choice Fred Lewis were penciled into Opening Day lineups, and last year, so too was Angel Pagan, who didn’t have much left in the tank as a center fielder.
In some years, left field has been an afterthought. In many years, it’s been problem spot. This season? The Giants finally managed to take dynamite to the mine and blow it into pieces.
In Slater’s first three weeks at the Major League level, the franchise’s eighth round draft choice in 2014 has looked every bit like the left fielder the club has been searching for. While the Giants front office has spent the last decade with its eyes on the present, with each passing day, Slater is helping turn the attention toward the future.
An organization that entered Spring Training convinced that a competition between Parker and Mac Williamson would lead to adequate production out of the Giants’ left-field assets made a critical error even general manager Bobby Evans characterized as a “miscalculation.” But in the past three weeks, the dark cloud that’s lingered over the Giants’ left field situation has given way to a ray of light in the form of Slater.
On Tuesday evening, Slater delivered one of the at-bats of the season for an abysmal Giants team, shooting a three-run home run onto the short right field porch at the newly constructed SunTrust Park in Atlanta to give San Francisco a 3-2 lead. His eighth inning opposite-field blast marked just the second three-run smash of the season for a Giants team that makes hitting with runners on base look as difficult as driving the green on a par four.
For Slater, the home run was a defining moment of the early Major League success he’s enjoyed, but for the Giants, it meant so much more. In the short-term, it offered the force and tension needed to snap a season-high seven-game losing skid, but in the long-term it offered a glimmer of hope that finally, the team has developed a left fielder of the future.
After his 1-for-4 effort against the Braves, Slater’s batting average dropped down to .340, a remarkable clip for any rookie 15 games into his career, but especially a player tasked with fighting through the “black hole” that Bochy described as the Giants’ left field situation earlier this month.
The late-inning heroics surely helped solidify Slater’s spot in the lineup, but it’s his day-to-day approach that should keep him there for the remainder of the regular season. Slater’s ability to hit the breaking ball, willingness to shoot the ball the other way, and dissect a pitcher’s approach reveal a player who is mature beyond his years, and a competitor intent on staying in the big leagues. Though Slater isn’t a “five-tool” player per se, he’s competent in each phase of the game, as Giants fans have learned from watching Slater run the bases and field his position.
Yes, Slater will hit growing pains when Major League pitchers discover his weaknesses, and no, the rookie isn’t going to hit .340, or close to that clip, for much longer. But in a season that’s already lost, the Giants owe it to themselves –and owe it to Slater– to see if they can discover what’s been missing in left field.
No one is expecting a mine that’s dried up to yield another gold rush anytime soon, but if the Giants can turn Slater into a homegrown nugget of success, they’ll be able to say something over the next few years they haven’t uttered since the days of Bonds: “Eureka!”