New Look San Francisco Giants: Free Agency Impact

The San Francisco Giants looked to upgrade their hitting, outfield, and pitching in free agency rather than making a huge splash. They also added a couple of young players, headlined by #1 international prospect Luis Hernandez, to bolster their middling farm system. Losing veteran Justin Verlander in the off-season definitely hurts, but these pick-ups more than make up the difference.

Getting On Base

The San Francisco Giants ranked in the bottom half of the league in batting average and on-base percentage in 2025. Picking up multiple time batting champion Luis Arraez was the best grab to boost these numbers in the coming year. Coming off of his worst hitting year in 2025 with San Diego, Arraez will be looking to bounce back in 2026.

Arraez’s 2025 Struggles

Arraez won 3 batting titles from 2022-2024. While being an above-average hitter his struggle has always been his fault, only tallying double digit homeruns in one season. This is unfortunate as the Giants ranked 26th in homeruns and in the bottom half of the league in slugging.

Another major struggle Arraez has is his defense. In 2025 Luis Arraez spent a ton of time at the DH spot because of his lack luster performance in the field. It is the Giants intention to use him at 2nd base and based on his recent performance this will be a defensive weak spot for San Francisco.

Defensive Help

Oct 4, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies left fielder Harrison Bader (2) hits an RBI sacrifice fly against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the second inning during game one of the NLDS round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Since Harrison Bader made his debut in 2017 he has been one of the fastest players in Major League Baseball. That coupled with his elite defensive prowess is what drew the Giants to Bader. He has been a positive defensive player in every year in his career except for one and has the gold glove to prove it. Bader also improved with the bat in 2025 posting career highs in batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging in 2025 being 24% than a league average hitter base on OPS+. If he can keep this up in 2025, he will strengthen the Giants outfield.

Rotation Flexibility

Adrian Houser signs with the San Francisco Giants. — Sep 26, 2025; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Adrian Houser (37) pitches to the Toronto Blue Jays during the first inning at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images

By adding Tyler Mahle and Adrian Houser the Giants hope to build up the back end of their rotation behind standouts Robbie Ray and Logan Webb. Tyler Mahle has had an up and down career but his last season in Texas was the best in his career posting highs in ERA with a 2.18 and ERA+ with a 168. Adrian Houser has also had inconsistencies in MLB his best and one of his worst seasons back to back in 2024-25 respectively. He is hoping that he could return to his 2024 form in 2026. These two pieces should make for a solid rotation going into 2026.

Bullpen Struggles

The Giants bullpen in 2025 was top tier until it came time for them to save the game. They had the 4th ranked bullpen by ERA according to MLB.com. However, they ranked middle of the pack in saves and had 22 blown saves on the season. The bullpen also struggled with striking batters out ranking 26th in bullpen Ks in 2025.

New Additions

The Giants signed Sam Hentges and Jason Foley in order to relieve the backend of the bullpen and in turn save more games.

Hentges has been an above average reliever for the past three seasons posting more strikeouts than innings pitched every season. He will help with the strikeouts in the bullpen as well as being great at limiting free passes on base.

Foley was also very good in his career with Detroit posting a career ERA of 3.16 and a career OPS+ of 132. He will also be a huge upgrade in the Giants bullpen this season.

Top Prospect

Luis Hernandez signed with San Francisco in January, coming in as the top international prospect in 2026. This Venezuelan short stop has been said to have elite bat to ball skills and great character according to ESPN. This is potentially the best add of them depending on how he pans out in San Francisco.

Looking Toward the Future

These new additions to the Giants roster are going to make them a force to be reckoned with in a competitive NL West. New second baseman Luis Arraez will help the Giants offense by boosting on base percentage and average. New pitchers Jason Foley and Sam Hentges as well as Harrison Bader will strengthen the Giants unit late in games. Luis Hernandez is still a question mark as a young player, but he has shown flashes of being very good at baseball. The Giants are to be competing for the NL West and I think they could make a run to the pennant.