You Can't Beat The Whis!

SF Giants Minor Lines, May 13, 2025

I get asked a lot about the Giants’ player development work on the hitting side. So, I thought I’d start today’s post by dropping a fascinating short article written by a member of the Giants’ minor league coaching staff — though not written in an official “SFGiants” capacity. Robert Riggins has been working in the system as a hitting coach for the past four years, first in the DSL and, for the last two seasons, as an Assistant Hitting Coach in Sacramento. Prior to that, he had created his own data-driven performance lab for amateur players near his home in Texas (Heavy Mettle Player Development). Robert is extremely interested in the brain science that is behind hitting, and he’s a fascinating guy to talk with.

So, enjoy this little thought experiment that Riggins wrote on his personal blog on ways to improve swing decision preparation. I know this doesn’t answer all of your questions on the technology and sciences that the Giants employ to help hitters — but knowing that this is the level of thought going on behind that work might be interesting to you!

HITTER of the DAY: Carlos Gutierrez (SJ), 4 for 6, HR (1), 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 SB
PITCHER of the DAY: Carson Whisenhunt (Sac), 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K

Carson Whisenhunt continued his home dominance, in yet another sterling performance for the left-hander. Meanwhile, there were some starving offenses around the organization yesterday, but in the hitter-friendly climes of Stockton’s Banner Island, the Little Giants did enough hitting for everybody!