This story was excerpted from Maria Guardado's Giants Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
SAN FRANCISCO -- Since debuting with the Giants on Aug. 8, Drew Gilbert has quickly become known for two things: his zany dugout celebrations and his ability to cover a ton of ground in the outfield.
The latter skill has shown up consistently in recent weeks, with Gilbert putting together an ever-expanding list of impressive catches.
The 24-year-old rookie made perhaps his most dazzling grab of the year at Chase Field last Wednesday, when he sprinted into the right-center-field gap to rob Jake McCarthy of a potential game-tying hit in the fifth inning. McCarthy’s Statcast-projected 396-foot drive had a 5% catch probability, but Gilbert managed to track it down by covering 119 feet in 5.5 seconds, according to Statcast.
Gilbert followed that up with another superb play on Monday, when he raced into the left-center-field gap to make a tumbling catch on Thomas Saggese’s deep drive at Oracle Park.
“It was insane,” left fielder Heliot Ramos said. “I thought I had a good jump on it, but then I saw him and he just called me off. I was like, ‘All right, you got it.’ It was a great read by him.”
Gilbert has appeared in only 35 games for the Giants, but he’s already accumulated +3 Outs Above Average in right field and entered Wednesday tied for ninth in the Jump leaderboard among outfielders with a minimum of 10 attempts this year. His jumps have registered at 2.8 feet above average, giving him a better chance at running down as many balls as possible.
The secret to Gilbert’s elite jumps in the outfield? His distinct pre-pitch setup. Gilbert will take two small steps forward when the pitcher releases the ball and then jump to try to sync up his landing to when the ball crosses the zone.
Gilbert said he developed the routine during Spring Training with the help of several Mets outfield instructors, including former Giants first-base coach Antoan Richardson, as they wanted to find a way for him to improve his reaction time and his first-step quickness.
“It wasn’t something I came up with on my own,” Gilbert said. “I knew I needed to get better defensively, and a lot of that started with my first step and whatnot. Thankfully, people with the Mets helped me a ton. They kind of brought me some things metrically that I needed to get better at. We kind of looked at why those weren’t where they needed to be. They kind of looked at my first step.
“I think if I'm able to be in a good spot where I can anticipate and land right when the ball is crossing the zone -- you want to hit the ground and go. I wouldn’t say it’s a work in progress, but it’s still something where maybe it needs tinkering over time. But I feel like it gives me a good chance on a pitch-to-pitch basis to get my best jump off.”
Gilbert gearing up for a pitch in center field.
Gilbert said it took him a while to get used to the new setup, but it became easier to stick with it once he saw his jumps improve.
“It’s made a huge difference,” Gilbert said. “It’s just the consistency of it, too. In the past, I’ve shown flashes metrically of having elite jumps, but consistently, they weren’t there. When you play every single day, if you’re not consistent in some aspects of the game, it’s going to show up. It was just finding what worked and what I needed to do to be as consistent as possible.
“Offensively, it’s not going to go how you want all the time. That’s part of it. But you can control, for the most part, a lot of things on defense.”
Gilbert’s jumps made an immediate impression on the Giants after he came over from the Mets as part of the Tyler Rogers trade, but he’s only continued to burnish his defensive reputation by repeatedly making outstanding plays in both right and center field.
“He’s terrific,” manager Bob Melvin said. “We knew that going in. … He’s always prepared. It’s exhausting to watch him jump like that on every pitch, but he gets good acceleration off of that. It’s really good. It’s elite level.”
There are other outfielders around the league who incorporate a hop into their pre-pitch routine -- including the Red Sox’s Ceddanne Rafaela, who is considered one of the top defensive outfielders in the Majors -- but Gilbert’s jump is more pronounced than most.
“I saw a video of it,” Gilbert said. “I don’t even think I realized it’s as high as it is. But it’s more of a timing thing. Maybe I need to tone it down a little bit, but it’s working.”
Does Gilbert ever get tired of hopping?
“No, not really, because it’s fun when you get a good jump,” Gilbert said, smiling. “You’re going before the ball is even hit. That’s a good question, but not really.”