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Every Giant led the majors in something

They weren’t the best in average, homers, wins, or ERA or anything like that. But they were all the best at something.

MLB: Texas Rangers at San Francisco Giants Kiel Maddox-USA TODAY Sports

Sometime this year, Mike Krukow said that with all the statistics there are, everybody leads the league in something. I wanted to put that statement to the test in an article that’s entirely different than this one. I’ve looked at every Giants regular to see if I could find something they lead in the majors in. Some of these required more qualifiers than others.

Brandon Crawford

Brandon Crawford led all defenders in “Plays” at 303.

Brandon Belt

Brandon Belt had the highest flyball percentage among first basemen with 400 plate appearances.

Andrew Suárez

Among left-handed rookie starters, Andrew Suárez had the highest groundball rate at 51.3 percent. He also led all rookies in innings pitched.

Chris Stratton

Stratton tied with 18 other pitchers for the league lead in complete game shutouts.

Dereck Rodríguez and Madison Bumgarner

Madison Bumgarner and Dereck Rodríguez tied for the fewest balks at zero.

Derek Holland

Derek Holland improved his 2017 ERA by 2.63. That’s the most among all left-handed starters.

Joe Panik

Joe Panik’s 91.1 percent contact rate tied with David Fletcher for highest contact rate among hitters with at least 300 PA.

Alen Hanson

Hanson had the largest wOBA-xwOBA among switch hitters with 150 plate appearances at .054. Take that, Statcast!

Chase d’Arnaud and Pablo Sandoval

Chase d’Arnaud and Pablo Sandoval tied for the league lead in ERA at 0.00. Sandoval also led the majors in WHIP at 0.00.

Evan Longoria

Longoria tied with Eduardo Escobar for the most sacrifice flies against left-handed pitchers with four.

Austin Slater

Among rookies with 200 plate appearances, Austin Slater had the highest opposite field percentage.

Oh, as I was proofreading this article I realized I didn’t list what his oppo-percentage is. It’s like 39 or something.

Gorkys Hernández

Gorkys Hernández hit 15 more home runs than he did last year, which is the biggest improvement among centerfielders.

Steven Duggar

Duggar’s 11 doubles are the most by any rookie with fewer than 160 plate appearances.

Hunter Pence

In pinch-hit appearances at home, Hunter Pence tied for the greatest infield hit percentage at 50 percent.

Buster Posey

Buster Posey had the best batting average at home among catchers at .337, and the best BB/K ratio of 0.8 among catchers.

Will Smith

Among lefty relievers, Smith had the best K-BB percentage against left-handed batters at 40.3.

Mark Melancon

Melancon tied for the league lead in fielding percentage for the third year in a row at 1.000.

Sam Dyson

Nobody hit fewer left-handed batters with a pitch than Samuel Dyson.

Reyes Moronta

Among all rookie relivers with at least 50 innings pitched, Moronta held opponents to a .211 BABIP, the lowest in the majors.

Tony Watson

Watson’s 1.16 ERA against the NL West was the best of any pitcher with more than 30 innings against the division.

Hunter Strickland

Most days spent on the disabled list due to being a dumb-dumb.

Nick Hundley

Against left-handed pitchers, Nick Hundley led catchers with 100 plate appearances in hard-hit rate at 48.7.

Andrew McCutchen

Andrew McCutchen tied Christian Yelich and George Springer for the most hits in a game with six.