The San Francisco Giants and Joc Pederson could not have asked for a better start to the 2022 season than this one. The Giants signed Joc to a 1 year, $6 million deal earlier in the offseason and have to be more than impressed with the way he’s been performing. The local Bay Area native, out of Palo Alto High School, has been raking as of late and shows no signs of slowing down!
On the season, Joc is slashing .362/.392/.787 (batting average, on-base percentage, slugging) with a 1.179 OPS leading to 6 home runs and 10 RBIs. Currently, Joc is tied for being the league leader in home runs and is in the top 1% of players for exit velocity, xBA (expected batting average), xSLG (expected slugging), WOBA (weighted on-base average), and hard-hit percentage %.
Joc is experiencing a season like no other. In his previous seasons, he has never maintained a BA (batting average) above .250, has never had an OBP (on-base percentage) above .352, and has always led the league in K%. Joc is putting up career-high numbers in almost every single statistical hitting category. This is partially due to his increased playing time on the SF Giants and hitting higher in the batting order.
The 30-year-old, 6’1” and 220-pound outfielder is projected to hit 20 plus home runs, which is exactly what the Giants need. The SF Giants signed Pederson due to their lack of power and left-handed-hitting outfielders in the lineup with the intention of Pederson playing as a backup outfielder. Joc has seen success from hitting both leadoff and cleanup for the Giants this season. While there’s not a big difference between where Joc hits in the lineup, there’s a large difference in his splits against righties vs. lefties. Against right-handed pitching, Joc has a strikeout percentage of 18% while he has a strikeout percentage of 33% against left-handed pitching. This means that Joc strikes out almost twice as much against left-handed pitching which is why he is used mainly in the platoon role and pretty much only hits against righties.
After Joc’s recent hot streak of hitting, it seems like he’ll be playing a lot more than just as the “backup” outfielder. Joc’s success at the plate and massive power should continue to help the Giants score more runs. Farhan Zaidi and San Francisco Giants’ front office should be feeling both impressed and pleased with the overall successful signing of Joc Pederson.
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