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Up next in the San Francisco Giants season reviews: switch-hitting designated hitter Justin Smoak. Oh boy.
Season stats
Three games, 6 plate appearances, .000/.000/.000, .000 OPS, 0 home runs, 0 RBI, 0 walks to 2 strikeouts
-100 OPS+, -100 wRC+, -0.2 rWAR, -0.2 fWAR
Status throughout the season
The Giants signed Smoak to a Minor League contract on Sept. 9 and called him up a day later. He was designated for assignment on Sept. 21.
Season review
I can’t think of a sadder part of the Giants season than the short-lived Smoak experiment. That’s nothing against Smoak, just ... yeah. The Giants added Smoak because they had given up on Pablo Sandoval as a switch-hitting designated hitter and corner infielder.
The reason for that was simple: Sandoval had been bad, hitting .220/.278/.268 with 6 walks to 18 strikeouts in 90 plate appearances. So the Giants decided to switch things up and try Smoak, a fellow previously-good All-Star ... who was hitting .186/.262/.381 with 10 walks to 40 strikeouts in 126 plate appearances.
I’m not sure what the Giants were expecting with that switch, but based on only giving him a half dozen plate appearances, it’s safe to say not much.
And that’s what they got.
And that was it.
Role in 2021
Smoak will play a big role for the Giants in 2021 ... just not the San Francisco Giants. He recently signed with the Yomiuri Giants in the NPB.
Grade
Shrug emoji.
F/Incomplete
Poll
How would you grade Justin Smoak’s season?
This poll is closed
-
5%
A
(14 votes) -
0%
A-/B+
(2 votes) -
0%
B
(2 votes) -
0%
B-/C+
(1 vote) -
0%
C
(2 votes) -
3%
D
(10 votes) -
25%
F
(66 votes) -
19%
Incomplete
(50 votes) -
43%
What are we doing here
(112 votes)