San Francisco Giants Gold Glove Winner Among Best-Kept Secrets in Baseball

The San Francisco Giants are off to an excellent start this year, with the franchise hitting marks they haven’t been able to accomplish in a long time. 

Even though the offseason didn’t indicate that this was going to be a massively improved squad, the team looks much better than they have in recent years. 

With the Giants off to a hot start, expectations and the outlook for the rest of the year are already starting to change. 

Now, San Francisco is showing that they might have the pitching to be able to compete with some of the elites from within their own division. 

Furthermore, even though the lineup wasn’t expected to be great, even after the addition of Willy Adames this winter, the unit has been good enough and is helping contribute to the winning. 

While the Giants will likely not be an offensive power house this season, this is a team built on good pitching and defense. 

A lot of that success for the franchise starts behind the plate with their talented catcher, Patrick Bailey. 

Recently, Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report wrote about the best-kept secrets in baseball and highlighted the gold glove catcher for the Giants. 

“Patrick Bailey takes the San Francisco cake, though, underappreciated at a national scale by virtue of having basically all of his value come on defense," he wrote.

It is rare in this day and age to see a player’s value nearly come from his defensive abilities, especially when they are as valuable as Bailey. 

The talented catcher is arguably the best defensive catcher in the game, and at the most important defensive position on the field, that provides immense value. 

In 2024, the 25-year-old was awarded his first National League Gold Glove, and it was well-deserved.

Considering the team is now being run by former All-Star catcher Buster Posey, Bailey will certainly be appreciated for what he can do on the field.

Now, if the young catcher wants to take his game to the next level, he will have to improve at the plate. 

Last year, he slashed 234/.298/.339 with eight home runs and 49 RBI. The offensive numbers obviously don’t jump off the page, but what he can bring defensively helps make up for it. 

However, it is important to have the lineup surrounding him be good if the Giants are going to want to compete. 

At just 25 years old, there is still plenty of time in his third year to take a step forward on offense. If that happens, he could be looking at an All-Star season.