MLBNR questions Giants ability to evaluate/develop
Interesting convo on MLB Network Radio. They choose a few players to break down every day and today they took a look at Tyler Fitzgerald. It wasn't promising as they dove into the numbers, talking about his inability to hit breaking stuff or pitches away and how his paltry BA against those pitches (.231) was actually better than the anticipated BA (.167), indicating a regression in 2025. The call: he's a defensively mediocre dead-pull hitter that might as well ignore pitches on the outer third because he can't hit them.
But the spot evolved into a look at the Giants "prospects" and the takeaway was that you could throw a blanket over Fitzgerald, Schmitt, Wisely, Luciano, et al; that they all fit the same mold. They are fundamentally flawed players that the team hasn't developed and that the organization critically overvalued. The comment was the Giants must see something no one else does, but if that's the case why isn't the farm productive?
It seems the Giants hype guys (and it seems to be a different guy every year) not because they're worthy of attention but because they don't have anyone else to promote. This year Fitz, last year Luciano, Villar before that, let's mix in some Matos and Wisenhunt while we're at it. Different faces with similar results.
I have to wonder how deep this sentiment runs. Is it beyond the talking heads? Players? Agents? Is this why they have so much trouble getting free agents? Seem there's a narrative that this organization isn;t good at building a team and success is a lot farther away than we hoped.