Stop us if you've heard this before: Mac Williamson is heating up in Triple-A and launching home runs that, yes, would even leave the yard at Oracle Park.
And Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi has taken notice.
"Mac's done a great job. He's been on fire," Zaidi said Wednesday on KNBR.
While the Giants rank 27th out 30 MLB teams in home runs, Williamson continues stay in Triple-A Sacramento. Fans are begging for more power in San Francisco, so why not bring the return of the Mac? It's not quite that simple.
The Giants designated Williamson for assignment right before the season opener. He made it through waivers and was sent back to Triple-A. But he is no longer on the 40-man roster and is out of minor league options. It would take some serious roster construction to make Williamson a Giant again, and Zaidi is waiting for the perfect opportunity.
"We've got a close eye on him and a couple other guys that are doing well there. With a guy like Mac being out of options, we have to make sure when we pull the trigger on that, we have a long period where we can take a look at him," Zaidi said.
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"That's what's fair to him and as an organization we don't want to risk exposing him to waivers. We're gonna have to figure out the right time to do that. He's certainly worked his way back into the picture."
Williamson had a rough spring training after coming off an injury-shortened season from lingering concussion symptoms. He hit just .237 with one home run and 18 strikeouts to two walks in 22 games. In Triple-A Sacramento, it looks like he's found his swing that produced a .316 batting average with three home runs in five games for the Giants last year before tripping on the left-field bullpen and crashing into the wall.
Through 18 games with the River Cats, Williamson is batting .373 with six home runs, two doubles and a 1.121 OPS. He does have 20 strikeouts on the year, but has walked five time in his last two games while striking out once.
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"We were thrilled we were able to keep him because he seems to be kind of getting back into the rhythm and back to the guy he was when he came up and did such a nice job that first week he was up last year," Williamson said.
The power potential of Williamson will always intrigue Giants fans. For now, see him in Sacramento as Zaidi and the rest of the front office plays the numbers game before getting him back to San Francisco.
