SF Giants’ Mike Yastrzemski heating up following rough start

Apr 29, 2024, 10:16 AM

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 28: Mike Yastrzemski #5 of the San Francisco Giants hits a solo h...

(Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)

Lead Editor & Kings Beat Writer

Two weeks into the 2024 season, Mike Yastrzemski looked lost at the plate.

Over his first 13 games, the San Francisco Giants’ second-longest tenured position player held a .121 batting average and had struck out 12 times over 33 at-bats, causing some to wonder if the organization would bench the veteran.

Thanks to a red-hot homestand, Yastrzemski has turned things around and is now one of the hottest hitters in baseball.

Yastrzemski’s solo shot during Sunday’s 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates–his second long-ball of the year–capped off an eight-game stretch that saw the outfielder bat .409 to go along with an impressive on-base percentage of .435 and 1.117 on-base-plus-slugging-percentage.

The 33-year-old drove in eight runs during the eight-game span, leading all San Francisco players during the ten-game homestand that saw the Giants post a 6-4 record.

BACK-TO-BACK DINGERS 💣 pic.twitter.com/eU8QuDmVtk

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) April 28, 2024

More on SF Giants outfielder Mike Yastrzemski

Rather than bench Yastrzemski and call up highly-touted outfield prospects Luis Matos or Heliot Ramos, Giants manager Bob Melvin stuck with the six-year veteran in hopes that the early-season struggles would dissipate.

“When you have a guy like him hitting in the eight-hole, you know that you have a chance to potentially score every inning,” Melvin said of Yastrzemski following Sunday’s win. “But he’s heating up now to where he’s swinging the bat really well. We have a great feeling every time he’s up there.”

Following Sunday’s effort, Yastrzemski expressed his appreciation for Melvin and the SF Giants’ hitting coaches, who helped him get back on track at the plate.

“I’ve got to thank BoMel and all the hitting coaches for sticking with it, because they trusted it and knew that I’d be able to eventually trust my process and get back to where I needed to be,” Yastrzemski said. “It’s still not perfect. No one’s ever going to be perfect. But it’s a work in progress, and at least it’s a more comfortable place to continue working from.”

Yastrzemski, the grandson of Boston Red Sox legend Carl Yastrzemski, will head to Fenway Park for a three-game set that will begin on Tuesday night in Massachusetts.

In his lone trip to Fenway Park as a rookie in 2019, Yastrzemski caught the first pitch from his grandfather before mashing a solo home run over the center field wall later in the evening.

Over three games in Boston, Yastrzemski went four-for-13 (.308) and drove in two runs.