After an offseason of spending money, the top San Francisco Giants performer has been someone who joined the team in 2021 and has been in the shadows since.
First baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. has had a breakout season, but recently suffered an injury that will keep him out for over a month.
As MLB.com explored each team’s ‘most deserving’ All-Star, they landed on Wade for San Francisco, though admitted that his injury may end up losing him enough votes to make it in.
The Baltimore native hasn’t been a ‘bad’ player in previous years of his career (outside of a rough 2022), but he certainly hasn’t reached the same heights that he has so far in 2024.
So far, in 52 games, the 30-year-old is slashing a fantastic .333/.470/.426 line. He’s leading the team in batting average, on-base, OPS as a whole and WAR. He’s also fourth among all first baseman in the league in WAR.
It’s not just the offensive results that have been improved, either, as he’s taken a step up as a defensive player as well.
He has a career high in OAA of 3. Last year, he had the opposite all the way down at -3.
Whichever way you look at it, Wade should absolutely be the team’s representative at the All-Star game, injury or not.
If losing a month does keep him out of the running, there are two more names that could make sense from the Giants.
The most obvious would be pitcher Logan Webb, who is second on the team with 1.8 WAR during this campaign and maintained a sub-3.00 ERA. He currently ranks tied for seventh among NL pitchers in WAR.
If not Webb, Matt Chapman could have played himself into an All-Star spot after an ice cold start to his San Francisco career.
Not only did Chapman make one of the best plays of the season defensively, but he also has picked things up at the plate.
The 31-year-old has reached base in every game since May 10. An on-base percentage that had gotten as low as .243 has now worked itself back up to .313 which is the highest it’s been since April 2.
Wade still makes the most sense of anyone on the roster, but there are a couple of other ‘deserving’ players as well.
