When Bruce Bochy sat in the dugout at Scottsdale Stadium during spring training in 2019 and announced his plans to retire at the end of the season, the future Hall of Fame manager made a point of saying he built his career on making decisions with his gut.
When Gabe Kapler sat inside of Oracle Park for his introductory press conference nine months later, the person hand-picked by president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi to lead the organization into the future highlighted how analytics and advanced data would guide his tenure as Giants manager.
The contrast between the two men couldn’t be more obvious, but as Giants veteran Jeff Samardzija noted this spring, “There are a lot of ways to skin a cat and I’m excited to see (Kapler’s way).”
In a 60-game season that began with many fans doubting Kapler was the right person to manage the Giants, the club exceeded expectations and narrowly missed a postseason berth. When the team looks back at the 2020 season, players and coaches will think of the final week failures and the late collapses that cost the Giants a chance to play into October, but they’ll also reflect on the progress the franchise made.
“I think there was an adjustment period for sure,” third baseman Evan Longoria said. “I was expecting it to be different, obviously because Boch is definitely on one end of the spectrum and I think Gabe might be near the other end of the way that they approach the game from an analytics standpoint and just beliefs in general. But I think it was not as different as I thought it was going to be.”
The Giants lost late leads in two heartbreakers over the final four days of the regular season and also fell a run short in Sunday’s 5-4, season-ending loss to a talented Padres team, but they provided more excitement and entertainment than the vast majority of fans thought was possible entering a 2020 season that comes in the midst of a multi-year rebuild.
Kapler faced criticism before the first pitch of the season was even thrown for hiring a 13-person coaching staff that was short on major league experience, but the group received consistent praise from players for ensuring the team was well-prepared under difficult circumstances.
The Giants’ three hitting coaches –Donnie Ecker, Dustin Lind and Justin Viele– helped turn the lineup into one of the top 10 offenses in baseball. The Giants pitching coaches –Andrew Bailey, Ethan Katz and Brian Bannister– oversaw one of the least experienced bullpens in the league and helped several young relievers become anchors the organization will be able to rely on for future seasons.
“It was definitely different from having the same group for so many years,” shortstop Brandon Crawford said. “Different coaches, different philosophies. But I think a lot of it worked. You look at what our team did this year and nobody expected that.”
After back-to-back blowout losses in Los Angeles to open the season in which the Giants played incredibly sloppy baseball, the team looked destined to make a 60-game season feel as long and arduous as a traditional 162-game schedule. Following an 8-16 start to the year, the Giants seemed like a lock to finish in the NL West cellar as many fans wanted Kapler on the hot seat for the unconventional way he managed his pitching staff.
The Giants are still feeling the sting of gut-wrenching losses that kept them out of the playoffs, but the mere idea of seeing Kapler lead the team into the postseason was unfathomable six weeks ago. Many players, particularly ones who enjoyed breakout years or the best seasons of their careers, attribute the team’s ability to make the season interesting to the new philosophies that will govern how the Giants approach the future.
“This was such an uncertain year and they adapted great, the (coaches) made us feel comfortable, they gave us every opportunity to take advantage of new tools and new technology,” 2020 Willie Mac Award winner Mike Yastrzemski said. “I think everyone was open to it and it showed how much it was going to benefit us and I think we definitely outperformed the expectations this year.”
It’s difficult to consider a fourth consecutive losing season a success, but the 2020 Giants took a step forward and likely reset the floor for expectations entering next year.
With Zaidi’s ability to find undervalued talent –think Yastrzemski, Donovan Solano and Alex Dickerson– and the Giants’ coaching staff’s recently established track record of helping players maximize their abilities –think Kevin Gausman, Drew Smyly and Austin Slater– the Giants should be viewed as an organization that’s closer to contending for a playoff spot than concerned about its draft position.
Zaidi and Kapler have a massive challenge on their hands as they must rebuild a starting rotation that could look drastically different and will need several veterans to replicate their strong performances next year, but it’s no longer fair to the Giants to expect so little.
The 2020 team commanded respect. And despite wrapping up the season in a way that was an obvious failure, there’s plenty of reason to think the organization is capable of success in the near future.
“I think to come as far as we have puts a lot of faith in the players,” Longoria said. “Me personally, just knowing that Farhan top down did a great job putting together the team that we had and we have some players that are coming.”
