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Season review: Tony Watson

Kind of a weird season, wasn’t it?

By Brady Klopfer
Arizona Diamondbacks v San Francisco Giants Photo by Jason O. Watson/Getty Images

We’re almost to the end of the San Francisco Giants season reviews. Which is good, because a new season is mere seconds away. Don’t blink or you might miss it!

Anyways, next up is left-handed reliever Tony Watson.

Season stats

21 games, 18 innings, 13 hits, 3 walks, 1 hit by pitch, 15 strikeouts, 0.889 WHIP

2.50 ERA, 4.36 FIP, 0.1 rWAR, 0.0 fWAR

Status throughout the season

Watson made the Opening Day roster, and spent the entire year on the roster.

Season review

It was a bit of a weird season for Watson. Apologies if I’ve said that a lot this year. It was a bit of a weird season for a lot of players. And people.

Watson was slowed a little in Summer Camp do to some lingering issues from Spring Training, and though he made the Opening Day roster, the Giants were hesitant to use him for quite a while. He pitched just twice in the team’s first 11 games, both in scenarios where the Giants led by at least four runs.

It wasn’t until the Giants were well into August that they started giving Watson — traditionally a setup man who could get both lefties and righties out — high-leverage innings.

And for a while he was dominant. From Aug. 8 through Sept. 23, Watson had 15 straight scoreless appearances, giving up just 8 baserunners in 13.2 innings.

Unfortunately the season didn’t end all that well, as he gave up runs in his last two appearances of the year (and likely his last two appearances with the Giants), including three earned runs in the penultimate game of the season, a crucial 6-2 loss to the San Diego Padres.

But all things considered: not a bad season.

Role in 2021

Watson remains a free agent, but with the Giants having recently signed Jake McGee, and having a few other strong lefty options in the bullpen, it seems highly unlikely that a reunion is in the works. If it were, it likely would have happened by now.

Grade

Good, not great.

B-

Poll

How would you grade Tony Watson’s season?

This poll is closed

  • 2%
    A
    (4 votes)
  • 27%
    A-/B+
    (51 votes)
  • 42%
    B
    (80 votes)
  • 18%
    B-/C+
    (34 votes)
  • 7%
    C
    (14 votes)
  • 0%
    D
    (1 vote)
  • 0%
    F
    (1 vote)
  • 1%
    Incomplete
    (2 votes)
187 votes total Vote Now

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