Is Joc Pederson the Real Deal for the Giants
Written by: LaMarr Fields
This off-season, the San Francisco Giants signed outfielder Joc Pederson to a one-year $6 million contract. It's a move that has paid off so far for San Francisco.
Pederson is hitting .364 with five home runs, including two on Sunday in the Giants' 12-3 win over the Washington Nationals Pederson hit the 24th leadoff home run of his career. It was his 18th career multi-homer game and first this season. "I was feeling good, seeing the ball out of their hand and just swinging at some pitches that I was able to put on the barrel," said Pederson.
Pederson always crushed right-handed pitching; he has 1.166 OPS against right-handed pitching so far this season. The outfield also has a .750 slugging percentage. Giants manager Gabe Kapler said Pederson set the tone for the day, "I think he set the tone for the day," manager Gabe Kapler said of Pederson, "I think he's picking really good pitches to go after and even when he gets deeper into counts and pitchers have velocity, he's able to catch up to that velocity."
Pederson spent the first seven years of his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He had three 20-home run seasons and a 36-home run season in 2019. After the 2020 season, Pederson signed a one-year contract with the Chicago Cubs but was traded to the Braves at the trade deadline.
In 2021, Pederson hit .238 with 18 home runs. Pederson played on the last two World Series-winning teams, that bode well for the Giants. If Pederson keeps this up, it will help the Giants win a lot of games, but it's a long season; let's hope Pederson can play like he did in 2019 but better.
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