Thirty home runs in a season sounds like a basic benchmark for a power hitter. For the San Francisco Giants, it’s been almost unheard of.
Only one Giants hitter has reached that number since 2005. Rafael Devers is now closing in on becoming the second.
Monday night gave him another step toward it.
Devers Powers a Much-Needed Win Over the Reds
GettyRafael Devers of the San Francisco Giants.
San Francisco snapped a four-game losing streak with a 5-0 shutout of the Cincinnati Reds at Oracle Park, and Devers supplied the biggest swing of the night. His three-run homer over the right-center field wall was his 27th of the season, keeping him on pace for a number this franchise rarely sees.
It wasn’t a statement win by any means. But for a team that’s struggled for most of the season, snapping the skid mattered on its own.
A Milestone the Giants Have Barely Touched
GettyWilly Adames of the San Francisco Giants.
The history here is stark. According to a stat shared by MLB’s Sarah Langs, no Giants player hit 30 homers in a single season anywhere between 2005 and 2024. Willy Adames finally broke that streak last year, and he needed the final day of the season to do it.
Go back further, and the drought gets even more pronounced. The last Giants player to clear 30 before that stretch was Barry Bonds, who hit 45 at age 39. Even during San Francisco’s championship run from 2010 to 2014, the roster never had a true 30-homer bat in the middle of the lineup.
Devers has 31 games left to find three more homers. Given how he’s swinging the bat lately, that’s a modest ask.
What Devers Has Meant for the Giants
Devers arrived in a trade from the Boston Red Sox and started slow in his first full year with San Francisco. Nobody’s talking about a slow start anymore. He’s already hit 30 homers three times in his career, so the power isn’t new. What’s new is doing it in a Giants uniform, something almost no one in franchise history has managed in the last two decades.
The Giants’ record this season doesn’t reflect what Devers is doing individually. But for a rebuilding roster looking for building blocks, a middle-of-the-order bat doing something the franchise has rarely seen is a good sign.
Final Word for the Giants
Devers is on track to join Adames as one of only two Giants players to hit 30 homers since 2005. If the power keeps up, that happens well before the season ends.
Next year could bring even more. If Adames and Devers both stay healthy, San Francisco could have two 30-homer hitters in the same lineup for the first time in recent memory, with Bryce Eldridge‘s emerging power giving the franchise a real chance at a third name down the line.
This season hasn’t gone the way San Francisco hoped. Devers chasing a number this franchise almost never reaches is one of the few parts worth watching closely.
Giants See Rafael Devers Close In on History During Reds Series