Giants outfielder Mac Williamson went unclaimed on outright waivers after being designated for assignment and will report to the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Sacramento, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports (via Twitter).
The 28-year-old Williamson was long viewed as a potential regular by the previous Giants front office but has struggled to remain healthy and regularly been blocked at the MLB level by more established veterans (e.g. Hunter Pence, Andrew McCutchen). When healthy, Williamson has generally performed well in Triple-A (.269/.327/.533 last season), and he showed brief flashes of his power potential early in the 2018 season. A concussion last May cost him some playing time, though, and he ultimately landed back in Sacramento for much of the year. Williamson finished out the season with a meager .213/.295/.383 slash through 105 trips to the plate as a big leaguer.
It’s not terribly difficult to envision Williamson earning another look with the Giants down the road this season. Although San Francisco acquired Kevin Pillar from the Blue Jays earlier this week, their starting trio of Pillar, Steven Duggar and Gerardo Parra isn’t exactly an iron-clad collection of established producers. Parra has struggled in recent seasons and had to settle for a minor league pact this winter, while Pillar has generally provided premium defense but an inability to keep his OBP north of .300. Duggar has yet to log a full season in the Majors. Each of the three figures to have a reasonably long leash, but Williamson will at least have the opportunity to force the issue of a return to San Francisco now that he’s remaining in the organization.
No surprise here.
He’ll end up like Jarrett Parker and released when he starts taking up crucial at-bats to better prospects.
Pillar????? Get that herb off the team asap. Dude is butt cheeks. I’d rather have Mac over Pillar. The Giants lineup is complete booty
Ass-inine comment….
I see what you did there Trim, haha! Nicely done.
Pillar goes over walls, not into them head first.
Agreed. If there was a team that Pillar fit less than the Jays, it’s the Giants. You can hide his bat in a good lineup for the defence, but you can’t rely on him for offense, which they pretty much have to do.
spot on JD – desperation looks pretty ugly sometimes. I think we’re all just happy to see another legit ML outfielder in the mix – no offense to Parra and Duggar, but is there another ML roster out there with an OF as lean as the Giants?
Interesting choice to put Pillar in center and Duggar in right last night – wondering what that’s about. Isn’t Duggar our future CF until proven wrong?
Is there a better defensive outfield? Pretty sure defense is kinda important.
Duggar has more recent experience playing RF was the reason given.
Giants have spent the last 10 years as an elite defense and pitching team. Giants lost the most 2 run games in that time frame as well. Giants won 3 world series with a strategy of playing elite defense to back up a solid pitching staff, and having different guys score runs. Posey has been the star hitter, and he is still more heralded in san Francisco for his ability to call games and handle pitchers. Pillar is exactly what the giants need In center. The real hole on this team is the power hitter playing left field. And that’s a serious problem for a team that needs key hits to win close games. If the giants had landed Harper, this would be a playoff team.
Wish they would have given Williamson a real chance this year. Put him out there and see what he could do. I can’t imagine he’d be any worse than Connor Joe who has 0 (ZERO) hits.
Not so sure Joe has even hit the ball out of the infield. Instead of warning track power, Joe has great infield power. Mr. Zaidi should reach out to the Phillies. I read they have an abundance of outfield talent due to a couple of players coming off the disabled list.
altherr for blach
Altherr for Blach would be a great move!
Take Altherr!
‘Not so sure Joe has even hit the ball out of the infield’
or the rest of the team more than a dozen times or so for that matter!
I don’t know how many more lazy 3 hoppers and a trot down to first base I can watch. This team needs to be checked for anemia! Weary and Woeful comes to mind when I watch a Giants game
And if the Giants could somehow convince the Phillies to take Blach for Altherr it would be a miracle. Altherr is no prize prospect these days, but I suspect Blach’s stock is much like Williamson – no one is interested
There’s a reason that Joe is now with his 5th organization in just over 18 months. He teases enough potential so that teams get interested, but for the most part doesn’t have a position and doesn’t seem to fit anywhere.
Williamson has had 4 seasons to prove himself.
yes, enough is enough. If he’s ever going to do it’s probably going to have to be with someone else. For the G’s to bring him back up he would have to absolutely light up the PCL and his most recent at bats suggest that would be unlikely. His future may be as a Ham Fighter
Joe has had 13 at bats. Little to early to call him a bust.
but still plenty of room for suspicion – if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck…
he looks like a placeholder to me, waiting for legit talent to take his spot
Every team in MLB could have had Mac for free. No one wanted him. He’s not good.
Joe’s seat just got a little warm.
Indeed — especially after seeing just how bad an arm Connor Joe has. Offense aside, Williamson would at least probably hold a few more guys at 3rd than Joe.
Good news. I mean with the news that was given. . . I’m not going crazy over Mac. But I did want to try and keep him in the Org. Maybe a few bombs in his future. But there is no way this guy turns into Turner with the dodgers. . .
I think for a team lacking power, Parra, Joe, Duggar nor Pillar are going to provide any power to the team but hey provide speed and defense. I think SF is finally trying to build a team around it’s ballpark. Be interested to see if it works.
Very true. I really like the pillar move. As it could be the beginning of things we haven’t seen yet. Whether he sticks or not.
I’m liking our defense and bullpen this year. If we can step up our hitting, I think we could potentially contend for a wild card spot
they won’t
Not with this roster, Unless the staff can hold an era under 2.50 for the year. And on second thought it may be a stretch to assume they could average even 3 runs a game
Someone needs to take Posey aside and get him to sit down until he’s healthy. No way he’s as bad as he looks right now. Still swinging with just his arms from what I can tell
Let’s hope there is that much of a plan with our OF. I’m not sure it was intentional to have an OF that is defense strong/offense rather weak. But….time will tell how many doubles and triples.
They take away from the opposition…maybe you’re right Deke
PacBell Park was built for Barry Bonds. Literally.
Latest in a long line of drafted and developed Giant OF failures.
I’ve been following the team since the mid-80s and it’s been nothing but bad in the outfield. Someone told me the last outfielder that came up through the Giants’ farm system and reached the All-Star Game as a Giant was Chili Davis.
Yeah early 90s here, and it’s been rough to say the least.
But no one really cared because 25 was in left and he turned every game into a playoff atmosphere.
Duggar is looking good. the rest of the OF? not so much…
I like the fact that we get to keep him, but it also shows that no other team wants him for league minimum pay. So I don’t know how I feel about this lol
Good news! I’m glad Mac will get another chance. Hopefully he can figure it out in AAA and earn a spot on the club. He didn’t do himself any favors in Spring Training, but I don’t think it’s time to give up on him just yet.
There is no question Mac has power. his problem is hitting for average and long cold stretches. Even when he’s hot (like last season’s start), he has trouble staying healthy. I am hoping he puts it together and becomes the OF bat the Giants need, but I am not holding my breath.