The key ingredient to the Giants’ winning secret sauce? Chemistry
When Donovan Solano and Tommy La Stella replace each other in games, they hug. When LaMonte Wade Jr. is removed, he thanks manager Gabe Kapler. Buster Posey embraces reduced playing time in an effort to stay fresh and productive for the entire season. New addition Kris Bryant happily moves all over the field.
This is Giants baseball 2021: collaborative, all-for-one and one-for-all. The result is the best record in the majors, at 80–44. Bench players are a major reason for the team’s success, highlighted all the more last weekend when Wade and Solano delivered game-deciding pinch-hit homers on back-to-back days in Oakland.
“I think this is probably the best clubhouse I’ve been a part of in terms of everybody getting along, everybody being unselfish — and I’ve been a part of some really good clubhouses before,” said first baseman Brandon Belt, who was part of two Giants championship teams. “This kind of chemistry we have is really hard to find, at this level, in this day and age.”
San Francisco’s head baseball honcho, Farhan Zaidi, got his start with the Moneyball A’s and he’s all about analytics. Metrics-based clubs such as Oakland long resisted the importance of team chemistry, believing good vibes come from winning, not the other way around; the difficulties of quantifying interpersonal relationships made numbers-heavy front offices leery of counting on clubhouse dynamics. If a team clicked, it was seen as a bonus, but not a must. Heck, the A’s title teams of the ’70s battled as much with each other as they did with other teams.
“There’s always this chicken-and-egg question with winning and chemistry: What comes first?” Zaidi said. “I don’t know that we have an answer, but it does feel like they sort of perpetuate or reinforce one another. When you’re playing well and there’s more selfless play, winning comes to the forefront. And more winning creates even more positive chemistry, and so on. It can go the other direction, too, whatever the catalyst.”
“I used to feel like the winning led to the chemistry — I don’t feel that way any more,” Kapler said. “I’ve been on some playoff teams that had the chemistry from spring training on, and I would say this group has that since spring training — there were smiles and togetherness that preceded the winning. I feel like our clubhouse is full of good human beings; full of people who care for each other.”
One disgruntled role player can spread negativity quickly, and more than one Giants player and coach described the team’s approach this season as “no pricks” or a “no dicks policy.”
Zaidi emphasized before the trade deadline that potentially disruptive moves would be avoided. The two players acquired, Bryant and Tony Watson, were well known to the front office (GM Scott Harris is very familiar with Bryant from his time with the Cubs) and team (Watson is in his second go-round with the Giants). The offseason was similar, and players who didn’t fit in with the ethos didn’t stick particularly long.
“Everybody all the way from the top on down has played a role in bringing in the right guys,” Belt said. “When they sign guys, they definitely do research on how the guy is as a person. They really have brought in the right guys.”
The cohesiveness this season is particularly impressive for a coaching staff that is in just its second season and that is unusually large and young — and working with the oldest group of position players in baseball, which has the potential for a disconnect. Key veterans such as Posey and Brandon Crawford embraced the staff immediately, however, which went a long way toward establishing credibility with the entire roster.
“One of the things that really strikes me is Gabe’s staff has clearly developed incredible trust with these players, and I’m still not sure how they did it so quickly,” said Joan Ryan, a consultant with the Giants and the author of the 2020 book “Intangibles: Unlocking the Science and Soul of Team Chemistry.” “But those players bought into this approach, this selflessness. And I say selflessness meaning that they trust that the coaches’ decisions are driven by one thing: How do we win games? It’s not political, it’s not, ‘I like this guy and not that guy,’ or ‘I’m obligated to play this player.’ They got the players to totally commit.”
The trust goes both ways: The Giants have an MLB-high 265 pinch-hit at-bats and 305 plate appearances, and while they’re batting .196 in those situations, they have 14 pinch-hit homers — matching the team record for a season, set in 2001. The figure is tied for second-most all time, according to Elias, three shy of the Cardinals’ all-time mark, set in 2017. The Giants also have 11 doubles, 33 walks and 37 RBIs. That’s essentially a full player’s worth of stats from just pinch hitting.
“That takes some mental fortitude,” starter Alex Wood said. “It’s not easy but some of these guys make it look like an easy job. It takes a selfless player to fully accept that role if that’s their job for that day, much less to go in and succeed at that role.”
The Giants lead the majors with 187 homers, but underscoring the full-team-effort identity, it’s not one or two players putting up astronomical numbers. The team has 10 players with double-digit totals for homers, and no one has hit 20 yet. They’ll take their walks, too, tied for second in the National League with 458. And while they’re not a team that manufactures runs consistently well, they’re fifth in sacrifice bunts, with 28. Two pitchers, Jake McGee and Tyler Rogers, have double-digit save totals.
“I sense that our players have a really good feel for the strategy of the games, and they are very comfortable passing the baton to one of their teammates,” Kapler said. “Even though baseball can feel like an individual sport, this group feels like they’re kind of running a relay race.
“Our players are genuinely and authentically happy for each other when they perform well. It doesn’t feel like one guy’s climbing and another one is grabbing his shirt and trying to pull them down. What that creates is an atmosphere where people feel confident and supported.”
A’s reliever Sergio Romo, a three-time champ with San Francisco, said this year’s Giants team reminds him of some of those title teams because of the numerous bench players playing starring roles. And Wood, who played for the Dodgers last year when they won the World Series, is equally impressed with the contributions the Giants get from all corners.
“We’ve got a lot of guys ready to strap on every day, and if they don’t start, they’re coming off the bench and we’re as good as any team with guys being ready for whatever their assignment is that day,” Wood said. “We’ve got great depth, we don’t give at-bats away ever. Whoever we’re facing, they’re going to have to work to earn their outs.
“We have a special group, you know? There is no other way to put it.”
Susan Slusser is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sslusser@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @susanslusser
Originally published at https://www.sfchronicle.com on August 23, 2021.
