Giants’ Austin Slater is meeting expectations ― can he exceed them?

The San Francisco Giants have a 27-year-old homegrown outfielder enjoying a breakout season and it’s hardly been noticed.

For a franchise that hasn’t drafted and developed an All-Star outfielder since 1977 11th-round selection Chili Davis made the National League All-Star roster in 1984 and 1986, the emergence of Stanford product Austin Slater should soon create a bigger splash.

For now, Slater’s .344 average and 1.076 OPS are reason for cautious optimism because he’s only getting his feet wet as a full-time starter. Until the team’s current 10-game road trip, Slater was only viewed as a contributor when the Giants faced left-handed pitchers.

“I’ve always felt that I could hit both, but it’s a matter of proving it and the track record suggests that I’ve struggled more against righties than lefties,” Slater said. “I’m making a goal to set out and prove that wrong.”

First-year Giants manager Gabe Kapler was reluctant to use Slater against right-handed pitchers to open the season because the right-handed hitting outfielder has a career .683 OPS against them in 355 plate appearances. His .800 OPS against lefties suggests he’s more of a platoon player, but with fewer than 600 career at-bats under his belt, Slater hasn’t been given an extended opportunity to prove himself at the major league level.

The Giants weren’t necessarily set on giving Slater an uninterrupted run against righties during the 2020 season, but after rookie Jaylin Davis, a right-handed hitter who has reverse splits, struggled at the outset of the year, Kapler began rotating through options to see who demanded a longer look.

Neither of the young left-handed hitting outfielders the Giants have used this season, Joe McCarthy and Steven Duggar, did anything to convince Kapler to keep them in the lineup. When Slater’s turn to impress came along, he didn’t miss it.

After mashing two home runs off left-handed Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw on Saturday, Slater received three consecutive starts against right-handed pitchers. He’s 4-for-9 with a home run, two walks, a hit by pitch and three stolen bases.

“It’s obviously great to see the work that you put in show in the results,” Slater said. “I’m happy with how it’s gone so far, but I’m trying to stay in the moment and keep this going as long as possible.”

His eighth-inning home run in Monday’s loss to the Astros stood out to Kapler as a sign of the clear improvement the 2014 eighth-round draft choice has made against righties. With hard-throwing Houston reliever Josh James on the mound, Slater rocketed a home run out to right center at MinuteMaid Park, which is exactly where he worked on hitting the ball in batting practice that afternoon.

“Today in his batting practice session out on the field, we had the machine set up from an arm angle on the right side of a pitcher firing him fastballs,” Kapler said. “We were watching him in BP training for that moment, driving balls into the opposite field. So when that practice session shows up into the game and rewards a player for that kind of high-level training and effort, I think it’s worth noting.”

Slater only has 45 plate appearances through the Giants’ first 19 games, but he’ll likely remain in the starting lineup unless the quality of his at-bats against right-handed pitchers begins to diminish.

Through nearly one-third of the regular season, Slater and two National League West stars, Fernando Tatis, Jr. of the Padres and Trevor Story of the Rockies, are the only players in baseball with at least three home runs and four stolen bases.

Slater, who has never been known for his blazing speed, is tied for the major league lead in stolen bases with five, and has only been caught once this year.

“A lot of it is just confidence,” Slater said. “Much like hitting, being willing to take that risk to take a bag and having the confidence of your manager to give you that green light. There’s a lot of factors at play.”

The Giants have reason to believe Slater’s early success at the plate and on the base paths are sustainable. His work with coaches Antoan Richardson and Ron Wotus have helped him become a smarter runner who takes advantage of more opportunities, while his efforts over the last two-plus years to drive the ball in the air as opposed to hitting more ground balls and line drives are paying dividends.

Slater’s average launch angle in 2020 is 8.7 degrees, up from 2.6 in 2018 and 3.4 in 2019. His barrel percentage has climbed from 10.1% to 14.8% while his hard-hit rate (48.1%) has stayed the same from a year ago, suggesting the swing changes he’s made haven’t reduced his ability to find the sweet spot of his bat.

Another encouraging sign for Slater is a reduction in strikeouts, as he’s striking out in 24.4% of his plate appearances as opposed to the 30.7% rate he posted in each of the last two years.

A small sample size means it’s too soon to know if Slater has made significant leaps that suggest he’s capable of filling a full-time role in the Giants’ outfield, but the early returns are incredibly encouraging.

It’s been decades since a homegrown Giants outfield prospect lived up to expectations, but in Slater’s case, he’s already met them. The club is confident he can be a successful part-time player and hit lefties, and now it’s his turn to exceed those projections and prove he’s a reliable, full-time starter.