Player review: Austin Slater

2024 stats (w/Giants): 43 G, 112 PA, .200/ .330/ .266, .056 ISO, 76 wRC+

Austin Slater’s run as the longest-tenured San Francisco Giant ended in 2024 with his mid-July trade to Cincinnati. A confluence of frequent injuries, burgeoning youth movement, and changing organizational emphasis sounded his death knell. For some it was a sad day (read my eulogy here), and for everyone, an expected one.

He had run into a wall covering center for Jung Hoo Lee in the first inning of a game against the Reds in early May. The subsequent concussion foreshadowed future pain to come. Two days later the same fence felled Lee.

Slater didn’t return to the line-up until June 5th, and made 18 more appearances with…