SAN FRANCISCO — Giants Struggle Both on the Bases and at the Plate

Currently at the bottom of the league in stolen bases and offensive stats, the Giants are clearly having a tough time hitting, let alone making it around the bases.

Manager Tony Vitello introduced Jesus Rodriguez on Friday night, and Lee Jung-hoo managed to hit a splitter that dropped into the outfield. Rodriguez moved easily from first to third, which is the kind of aggressive play Vitello has been hoping for. However, in a reflection of their ongoing issues, this effort didn’t translate into any runs during the Giants’ 5-2 victory over the Pirates.

“Everyone is working hard to find some kind of edge,” Vitello noted. “But ultimately, it comes down to getting guys on base.”

That’s definitely a valid point. To be able to run the bases, the Giants first need to get on them.

However, they seem to have shied away from a classic strategy: taking four pitches outside the strike zone and waiting for walks.

Interestingly, regardless of the outcome — win or lose — the last three games all resulted in a big, fat zero in the walk column. Friday’s win marked the third consecutive game without any walks, a rarity that’s only happened 13 times in the team’s history since 1976.

“That’s a huge takeaway for us this year,” shortstop Willie Adames commented. “Personally, I don’t tend to walk much. It feels like you try to make something happen but then just get stuck in a rut.”

In Adames’ case, he has only six walks in 155 at-bats, tying him for the lowest walk rate on the team. This reflects a troubling trend in their early season performance.

The Giants have achieved just 72 walks in 38 games, which, if projected over a full season, would equate to about 307 walks. Historically, no team has ended a full 162-game schedule with fewer than 392 walks since 2009. In fact, only 16 teams have managed to reach 307 walks in shorter seasons.

“I believe things will improve, especially if we start winning more,” Adames expressed. “Things are changing.”

But here lies a conundrum. It’s kind of a classic chicken-and-egg situation.

The Giants aren’t scaring opposing pitchers at the moment. While their home runs haven’t been terrible, there’s little motivation for catchers to target the corners of the strike zone.

This has led to an impressive 52.1% of their pitches being thrown over the plate — a figure exceeded by only one other team. The second highest is at 50.6%.

“The pitchers are going after us,” Adames said. “When you’re struggling at the plate, you can blink and find yourself in an 0-2 count. It’s tough to draw a walk at that point.”

This is compounded by the fact that the Giants are swinging at pitches outside the strike zone more than most teams in the league, ranking sixth-highest at a rate of 32.0%. Some of this stems from their current roster composition.

No one’s arguing about Schmidt’s judgment with the bat; he’s been handling the offense. But alongside Luis Arraez, Lee, and Rodriguez, the rest of the lineup seems less effective.

Moreover, the gap between their batting average (.238, ranked 17th) and on-base percentage (.284, dead last) remains significant. While waiting for the middle of the lineup to spark, the Giants are looking for any possible methods to score across the board.

In some cases, they have even resorted to hit-and-runs.

“We utilized that in spring training, and it’s definitely a strategy we want to employ,” Vitello noted. “But of course, it all comes down to getting guys on base.”