SF Giants’ Wade maintaining confidence despite ice cold April ...Middle East

SAN DIEGO — In the bottom of the first inning on Sunday, LaMonte Wade Jr. stepped to the plate with bases loaded against the Rangers’ Jack Leiter. Wade unfurled three great swings. He ended up with nothing but an out.

With the count at 1-0, Wade sent Leiter’s sinker into the right-field arcade. It was just far enough to clear the fences, but the ball veered foul.

Several pitches later, Leiter threw Wade another sinker over the heart of the plate. Wade hit it 107.4 mph down the right-field line. This ball, too, curved foul by inches.

On the very next pitch, Leiter threw Wade another sinker to a similar location. Wade, not fooled, smashed a 107.1 mph line drive. This one stayed fair — and went right to an awaiting Marcus Semien.

As the saying goes, when you’re cold, everything seems to find a glove. And no one on the Giants has been colder than their starting first baseman.

Wade’s .461 OPS isn’t just the lowest on the Giants, but the fifth-lowest in all of baseball (min. 80 plate appearances). Dating back to June 28, 2024, the day he returned from a left hamstring injury that derailed a potential All-Star campaign, Wade has a slash line of .185/.296/.316. During the San Francisco’s series against the New York Yankees, manager Bob Melvin dropped Wade from the leadoff spot in favor of outfielder Mike Yastrzemski. Wade hasn’t hit first to start a game since that shuffle.

Despite the lack of results, Wade maintains confidence that the hits will arrive.

“I feel good at the plate. I feel comfortable,” Wade said. “I’m making good contact, but it’s just going right at people.”

Wade’s line drive that went right to Semien wasn’t the only time on Sunday that a ball off his bat found a glove. In the bottom of the sixth, Wade hit a line drive to right-center field that looked like it might find grass. Right fielder Adolis García, a Gold Glover, tracked it down, tumbled, then fired a throw back to first base to double up Heliot Ramos.

This has been something of a theme for Wade. On Opening Day, Wade hit a 107.6 mph line drive, again, to right-center field, his hardest-hit ball of the year so far. Similar to Sunday, right fielder Jake Fraley tracked the screamer down and made a leaping catch.

The numbers support the notion that there is some misfortune at play. Wade enters the Giants’ two-game set against the Padres with a .135 BABIP, or batting average on balls in play. That’s well below his career BABIP of .279, meaning that Wade has been abnormally unlucky.

“They’ll drop,” Wade said. “I’m not hanging my head or anything. It’s not like at the beginning when I was striking out a lot. Putting good contact on it and they’ll start falling. I’m not worried about it.”

Wade’s first couple weeks of this season couldn’t just be chalked up to bad luck. Over his first 16 games, Wade totaled 20 strikeouts to eight walks. Over his last nine games, by contrast, Wade has five walks to one lone strikeout. Wade, one of the most disciplined players in baseball, ranks in the 99th percentile of chase rate. His walk rate of 14.8% is also tied for 14th-highest in the National League (min. 80 plate appearances), a tick above the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani (14.4%).

“I’m not chasing anything right now, which is good,” Wade said. “Swinging at the right pitches, putting good swings on them. They’re just not falling.”

Despite his early lack of production, the starting job remains Wade’s for the foreseeable future.

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Casey Schmitt, who is learning the first base position, is currently on the injured list with an oblique strain and will start baseball activities soon. In Schmitt’s absence, David Villar is getting starts against left-handed pitchers. Jerar Encarnacion remains on the injured list as well with a left hand fracture but started swinging (without hitting a ball) on Monday. And Bryce Eldridge, the organization’s top prospect, remains aways away from the majors, having only played four games with Double-A Richmond this offseason.

When he’s right, there are only a handful of players who can get on base more than Wade. In 2023 and 2024, Wade’s .376 OBP ranked 11th among all players (min. 900 plate appearances). President of baseball operations Buster Posey gave Wade a vote of confidence amidst trade rumors this offseason. Even with poor results, the Giants are maintaining faith.

“He’s balanced now,” Melvin said. “It’s more of a free swing, less tension in it. … It’s frustrating for him that he’s not getting the hits, but the quality of the at-bats are way better right now.”

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