Following the SF Giants 7-3 loss to Atlanta on Saturday , things were looking dire for the Orange and Black. San Francisco had fallen out of a National League Wild Card spot amidst a 5-14 spiral. With seemingly no end in sight, second baseman Thairo Estrada called for a team meeting on Sunday. A normally reserved presence in the locker room, Estrada called the team to action. They went on to defeat Atlanta 8-5 and followed it up with a 4-1 victory on Monday night. Maybe it's a coincidence, but it sure seems like Estrada's speech struck a valuable chord with the team.
"Everybody knows that we have had a very difficult and challenging month of August," Estrada told reporters on Sunday night through translator Erwin Higueros. "So I just told the team that we were able to do positive things. I wanted to give a positive message. We have a month left, and I think that there is still a chance for us to get in and forget what we did at the beginning and try to forget the month of August."
Estrada's speech had been bubbling up during the team's recent slide. Over the past few weeks, Estrada was growing frustrated with Giants' performance on the field and felt the team was costing themselves opportunities with fundamental mistakes. After speaking with Wilmer Flores, who a close bond with Estrada, he decided to speak to the team.
"He wanted to get it off his chest," Flores said. "We talked over the course of this past stretch that we've had. He definitely had some things to say to the team, and it was just good to regroup. It says a lot about him. He doesn't say much, but when he has something to say, you really take it because he takes it personally. He was frustrated."
While Estrada's speech clearly came with some degree of dissatisfaction with the team's recent stretch, his goal was to deliver a positive message. He believes in the talent on the Giants' roster, and he wants to make sure they do not waste an opportunity for a postseason run.
"Everybody knows that I play the game really hard," Estrada said. "It doesn't matter what the score of the game is. I respect everybody in this clubhouse, and I think that they respect me. It's not easy to call up a team meeting, especially with my teammates who have a lot of experience, but I just thought it was a good time to go ahead and share a positive message that could probably help us the rest of the way."
On a roster primarily comprised of rookies and veterans in their 30s, Estrada is one of the only Giants with a track record of big-league success still in their 20s. But that perhaps made him the perfect bridge between the grizzled veterans and inexperienced young players.
"It was awesome to see," rookie catcher Patrick Bailey said. "We needed it."
"I believe in Thairo," pitcher John Brebbia told Giants Baseball Insider. "I trust Thairo. I think he's a great baseball player. I think he's a good guy. So, he felt like he wanted to say something, and I love that. And I thought his message was great."
"He was just focusing on 'if we had a bad team, it’s OK. But we have a good team,'" Flores said. "We shouldn’t be playing this way. If you're not supposed to win, whatever, but we have a good team."
"It was mostly just stay the course," rookie pitcher Tristan Beck said. "Obviously, it's been a bit of a month for us, but you know that can't lessen the way that any of us approach the game individually. One of the things that really hit home for me he brought up a point about, you know, you give away one at-bat, maybe one at-bat doesn't go the way you thought it would, you can still impact the game a million ways.
Estrada's speech was translated by assistant hitting coach Pedro Guerrero. Estrada was clear to Guerrero that he wanted his words to be translated literally, word for word, without any tweaks.
"I also asked him to say exactly what I was saying," Estrada reiterated to reporters. "Not to change anything. And you know, today was a good example of what we're able to do. We played very aggressively. We took the extra base, and the outcome was a win for the team."
While Estrada may not have been the Giants biggest contributor in the box score in either of the past two games, he's lived up to the message of his speech. He's scored a run in each game, driving in another, and made several significant defensive plays, including a heads-up play to cover first base in the first 3-1-4-2 double play in recorded MLB history. His play only furthered the message of Estrada's speech.
"He made some amazing plays out there," Beck said. "I mean kept us in the game in a big way at second base. That's a guy I look up to on this team. When he speaks, it carries a lot of weight."
"I think you've been able to see it for a while," Brebbia said. "This guy feels like someone who can be a pillar of a clubhouse. Actions like that can prove that."
"We have to win to make the playoffs, but you all know we have capable players here that can run that can hit," Estrada said. "We can compete. As long as we compete and try to do the fundamental things in every game, I think we have a big opportunity to make it to the playoffs."
The SF Giants will try to prove him right over the final month of the season.
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