Return of the Mac Williamson
Mac Williamson stands by the dugout prior to a game. (Jen Mac Ramos)
With the second round of the Cal League playoffs about to begin, the San Jose Giants’ right fielder has been making a name for himself as one of the team’s — and the San Francisco Giants organization’s — top prospects.
In the regular season, Mac Williamson hit .292/.375/.504 with an ISO of .212. His 25 home runs was fourth in the league.
Williamson said that he has grown as a player this season, with a lot of positives. He said that the organization stresses on making changes that will help a player in the long run, especially at the major league level.
“I think some of the adjustments I’ve made this year have been aimed at doing just that,” Williamson said.
He also said that the club puts a lot of stress on the winning mentality, something that is not only important to the San Jose Giants, but the San Francisco ones, as well.
“When Buster [Posey] and [Madison] Bumgarner and [Brandon] Crawford were here back in 2009, they won the Championship and they credit a lot of the two World Series in the past three years with developing a winning mentality here in the minor leagues,” Williamson said. “I think as a development, as a team, learning how to win, no matter if you’re having a good day, bad day, feeling good, feeling bad, knowing what you can and can’t do and how to help the team most to get a win.”
When it comes to preparing for the playoffs, learning to adjust to losing some key players and gaining new ones has been important.
“The dynamics of the team has changed a bit this year,” Williamson said. “With the player changes, the personnel changes, y’know, at the end of July, beginning of August, we struggled a bit there for a stretch. We were struggling to put runs up on the board and that was a problem I had and the rest of the offense had. No matter how well the pitching’s doing, if you don’t put runs on the board for them, it’s gonna be tough. So, I think going through that stretch where we really struggled and then we were able to turn it around and we won 10 straight, I think that really bodes well for us going into the playoffs.”
Williamson calls the rotation the best in the league, and maybe even a couple of other leagues.
“Our starting rotation obviously has spoken for itself this year,” Williamson said.
The pitching is something that has carried the team throughout the season, he said.
“We have an outstanding group of pitchers and the bullpen is just phenomenal,” Williamson said. “The addition of Derek Law, about a month ago, just did wonders for our team and our bullpen’s doing phenomenal the past few weeks.”
As for being a hitter in the playoffs, Williamson is hoping to contribute offensively. He also noted that having Myles Schroder hit at the top of the lineup has been somewhat of a juggernaut.
“He’s really setting the pace for our team. We go out there and start putting up runs in the first inning,” Williamson said. “There’s a lot less pressure on everybody and you just go out there and have fun.”