WASHINGTON — The interpersonal dynamics at group dinners can be challenging. Conversation tends to splinter into clusters. It’s often tough to get in a word or change an uncomfortable subject.
Tyler Fitzgerald’s social graces were tested in a group dinner Sunday night. The San Francisco Giants had arrived from Cincinnati and checked into their Georgetown-area hotel early enough for the players to enjoy a night on the town together. Fitzgerald was coming off another offensively charged series against the Cincinnati Reds and had just hit his 10th home run in 16 games. His teammates seated around him at the dinner table peppered him with questions: How does it feel to be so locked in? What are you doing differently? What do you eat for breakfast?
Fitzgerald, whose quiet default voice cannot be heard over a running refrigerator, finally had to speak up.
“Guys, can we talk about something else?” he said.
Fitzgerald is making it harder and harder to change the subject. He hit a home run on the second pitch of Monday’s 4-1 victory over Washington at Nationals Park, continuing a power binge that has few peers in a franchise littered with all-time great home run hitters. But his teammates and coaches were just as impressed with the subtler signs they picked up in his later at-bats: moving a runner with a 100 mph lineout to right field; swinging on a 3-0 count while lining a hard-hit single in the fifth; using his sprint speed, which ranks in the 99th percentile, to nearly beat out a hit on what appeared to be a routine grounder to third base.
And Fitzgerald made every play at shortstop behind Logan Webb and four relievers as the Giants reached .500 for the first time since May 31.
“He’s my favorite player,” said second baseman Brett Wisely, who is Fitzgerald’s pregame catch partner. “Every day after we throw, I tell him, ‘Dude, you’re my favorite player to watch.’ He’s got to be seeing a beach ball. It’s the best feeling in the world. He’s got all the tools and he puts them to work. I mean, he’s out there hitting homers and he’s still running his butt off down the line trying to get hits.
“It’s just, good luck talking to him about it.”
Fitzgerald owned just one home run over 76 at-bats in his first 34 games this season while spending most of that time either performing a super-utility role or shuttling back and forth from Triple-A Sacramento. Everything changed once the Giants released shortstop Nick Ahmed and thrust Fitzgerald into an everyday role. His home run Monday was his 11th in 17 games. He’s averaging one per 5.8 at-bats over that span.
It’s not the kind of power streak that lasts for any hitter. But there’s a baseline of talent that’s required to pull it off. Before Fitzgerald, the only other Giants in the San Francisco era to hit 11-plus home runs over 17 games were Barry Bonds, Willie McCovey, Willie Mays and Jim Ray Hart. You don’t fluke yourself onto a list of names like those. Or this one: Fitzgerald joined Trea Turner, Troy Tulowitzki and Alex Rodriguez as the only shortstops in major-league history to homer at least 11 times in 17 games.
Tyler Fitzgerald is on a GENERATIONAL hot streak right now 🌡️
That’s 11 homers in the last 17 games. pic.twitter.com/G1nLxRdGLD
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) August 5, 2024
“I don’t know if I’ve seen anything like it aside from Pete Alonso and some of the runs he went on as a rookie,” said Giants outfielder Michael Conforto, who was Alonso’s teammate with the New York Mets when the slugging first baseman hit a rookie-record 53 home runs in 2019. “Tyler seems to be on time, balanced, aware of the situation. And it couldn’t be happening to a more deserving guy. Tyler is so quiet, so professional and humble.
“Oh, yeah, we try to talk to him about it. He’s like, ‘I’m not having it.’ Which is great. It almost makes it even better to continue having fun with him about it.”
So how does a hitting coach handle someone as scalding as Fitzgerald? Stay out of his way? Treat him like a pitcher in the middle of a perfect game? Pretend that nothing out of the ordinary is happening? Put on oven mitts?
“Just keep reaffirming what he’s doing,” Giants hitting coach Pat Burrell said. “You know, he had a couple games in Cincinnati that weren’t his best. When I asked him about it, he just said, ‘I didn’t feel like I could trust it today.’ That’s all it can take. There will always be times when you’re feeling off or bad. The important part is learning to get out of those times quicker and not let them compound.
“So seeing him have a game like today is a good example of his maturity. A lot of it is about baseball, but it’s mostly about him believing in himself.”
Even when Fitzgerald has a relatively nondescript plate appearance, like his groundout in the seventh, Burrell is picking up positive signs.
“He’s swinging first pitch against a guy he’s never faced,” Burrell said. “Sometimes you can be a little passive there. He went, wham! Fouled it right back. That right there is the sign of a confident player. He’s gotten to the point where he knows he belongs. His true self is coming out, and it’s special to see that happening.”
When you’re this radioactive at the plate for this long, though, it’s bound to become a conversation starter.
So … breakfast?
“I have an acai bowl in the morning and an energy drink when I get to the ballpark,” Fitzgerald said. “Then I eat a banana and a peanut butter and jelly (sandwich) before the game. And I listen to music. I’m not crazy superstitious, but if I don’t do those four things, I feel off. Like today, I haven’t played in this park before. So I listened to some Christian music to feel extra calm. It’s hard to explain, but it’s a routine that works for me.”
The most critical part of that routine? Probably the banana. But self-awareness and disciplined thinking is pretty important, too.
“It’s coming in with a clean slate every day,” Fitzgerald said. “No matter what happened the day before, good or bad, just wipe it and get to work. It’s just one of these weird things where (home runs) are happening real close together. I’m just trying to ride this out.”
Count outfielder Mike Yastrzemski among the Giants who will drop a daily “you’re my favorite player” on Fitzgerald.
“And he is,” Yastrzemski said. “It hasn’t changed him, either. Some guys will get louder and you can see their emotions coming out more. With him, you just see his confidence slowly growing. I don’t think this is just a hot run. He really is getting better as a player. He’s taking advantage of mistakes but he’s also been hitting good pitches. He’s really intense about keeping track of his at-bats, when he faces guys, how they pitch him. His preparation sticks out the most to me. He doesn’t miss a beat.”
Or a pregame PB&J.
“Maybe not superstitious,” Yastrzemski said, smiling. “Maybe just a little stitious. That’s the funny thing: People talk about baseball players being superstitious, but it’s just knowing what gets you ready for the day. We’re dealing with different game times, different cities, all these things changing every day. There’s always some variable. You want to make each day as close to the same as possible.”
For the Giants to make the kind of run required to keep contending for an NL wild card, they’ll need almost every day to start the same way: with a steady contribution from a rotation that has the stuff and staying power to dominate down the stretch. Webb was coming off his third career complete game, and so Giants manager Bob Melvin had him on a 95-pitch limit. That restriction didn’t appear to be an issue after Matt Chapman hit a three-run homer in the third inning and Webb was cruising with a shutout in the sixth. Then Keibert Ruiz worked a 13-pitch walk that included a balk when Webb’s PitchCom receiver malfunctioned and he tried to wipe the sweat trickling down his arm.
It wasn’t just the 90-degree heat and humidity that had Webb in a lather. He hadn’t forgotten his confrontations with Ruiz last year, which included a pair of 10-pitch walks. It was more of the same Monday. Ruiz saw 21 pitches over his final two at-bats and fouled off 11 two-strike pitches.
“It got to the point where I was throwing stuff down the middle,” Webb said. “I’m like, ‘If you hit a home run, I’m OK with it.’ I just wanted him to put it in play. I threw him four-seams, cutters, sliders, changeups, two-seams. I literally threw him everything. He just kept fouling it off. It’s pretty annoying, to be honest.”
Webb gave up singles to the next two batters, ending his night, but Ryan Walker stranded two inherited runners. Tyler Rogers did the same for his twin brother, Taylor, who had recorded two strikeouts with two runners in scoring position before handing over the baseball. Then Camilo Doval struck out the side in a rare save opportunity.
And Fitzgerald could start thinking about tomorrow’s acai bowl.
“Is that what it’s been?” Melvin said, astonished to hear Fitzgerald is averaging a homer every six at-bats since the All-Star break. “I don’t know if he’ll go to the Hall of Fame if he continues at this pace. But we like what we see.”
His teammates will keep watching. And keep quiet.
Mostly, anyway.
“Just let him do his thing,” Wisely said. “Stay out of his way. And enjoy it.”
(Photo: Rafael Suanes / USA Today)
