Five years in the making: SF Giants’ LaMonte Wade Jr. hits first career home run off a lefty

SAN FRANCISCO — A small sample size, albeit over a five-year period, has kept LaMonte Wade Jr. from getting everyday playing time in the big leagues.

The numbers haven’t helped. They’re right there for all to see.

Not a single big leaguer in the last five years has been as ineffective against left-handed pitching as Wade, whose .338 OPS off lefties ranks dead last among all 521 players with at least 100 plate appearances since the start of the 2019 season.

That finally changed on Wednesday night.

Wade got a 93-mph fastball from Cardinals lefty Steven Matz and launched it 407 feet for a home run, the first off a lefty in his five-year career.

“Today it came together for LaMonte,” manager Gabe Kapler said after the Giants’ 7-3 win.

It happened by accident. Wade was never supposed to be in the lineup. A late scratch to Mike Yastrzemski opened the door for Kapler to make an adjustment. And Wade, whose patient plate approach has made him a quality leadoff hitter against right-handed pitchers, earned a rare start against a lefty.

In the big leagues since 2019, with 250 games played and more than 800 plate appearances overall, Wade had slowly built a resume that told a story of a guy who takes quality at-bats against right-handers but can’t hit lefties.

Break it down and it’s more complicated than that. He’s hardly had a chance.

When he debuted with the Twins in 2019, he had just 10 plate appearances against lefties and went 0-for-10. The following year, he had just four chances against lefties and went 0-for-4.

Traded to the Giants in 2021, Wade started to find regular playing time, but again was mostly kept on the bench against lefties. He received only 42 of his 381 plate appearances against southpaws, hitting .135 with a .389 OPS.

The trend continued, with limited opportunities producing the same results in 2022.

Wade looks at the story differently. Over the last two years, it hasn’t been a matter of lefties or righties.

“I’m healthy,” he said Wednesday. “My knee feels good, that’s the biggest thing. Last year I was standing straight up because I couldn’t put any pressure on that knee. Now I can actually sink into my legs and get into my move quicker and more efficiently.”

The injury to his left knee dated back to 2021, his first year with the Giants, when he hit 18 home runs, all against right-handed pitching. Last year, he hit eight home runs while being limited to just 77 games.

“I felt I was seeing the ball well last year, I just couldn’t swing because I didn’t have my legs,” he said.

He spent this past offseason rehabbing his injury. Now the 29-year-old is feeling like a new player.

Wade entered Wednesday with a sparkling .419 on-base percentage and 16 walks to just 15 strikeouts. Nobody in baseball has gotten on base at a higher clip out of the leadoff spot.

But Kapler explained that players who have developed the reputation for not being able to hit same-sided pitching have a hard time breaking the narrative. For it to change, “I’d say it’s because it becomes obvious, because the at-bats are so good so consistently, you know it when you see it and you want to keep running those guys out there.”

Kapler also refers to players’ minor league numbers when making these decisions.

Perhaps surprisingly, Wade was good against lefties in the minors in 2017, when he hit .313 in 120 plate appearances off them. He hit .315 off them the year before. And .346 the year before that.

This season, Wade’s plate approach has been so impressive that it begs the question: might he be useful against lefties, too?

“I don’t think anything is easy, but when you’re seeing it well, I don’t think it really matters which hand they’re throwing it out of,” Wade said. “As long as I can pick up the ball early and make my move in a good timely fashion, I think everything will be good.”

With lefty-crushers Austin Slater and Mitch Haniger back from the injured list, the Giants might not need Wade to play against lefties. But Kapler showed Wednesday that he’s not afraid to try.

“One thing I always know with guys like LaMonte and Joc Pederson against left-handed pitching is they’re going to see some pitches, they’re strong enough to draw a walk and they’re both strong and powerful enough to hit a home run once a while,” Kapler said. “And so you always know that possibility is there.”

For Wade, “once in a while” meant “once in five years.”

Perhaps it won’t take another five years for his next one.