On August 20th, 2017 the San Francisco Giants made a wise trade with the Cincinnati Reds, acquiring Marlon Byrd for Double-A pitcher Stephen Johnson. This season with the Reds, Byrd had a .237 BA with 19 HR's and 42 RBI's. San Francisco will be home to the left fielder after playing for 9 teams in 14 seasons. With outfield injuries in the Giants clubhouse piling up; Nori Aoki with a concussion and broken foot (recently recovered), Angel Pagan with his knee and Hunter Pence with his oblique, Byrd could not have made his debut as a Giant at a better time.
Giants' manager Bruce Bochy had him starting in left, moving Nori Aoki to right. In just 9 games for San Francisco, Byrd is 10-36 with 5 runs, 4 extra base hits, 3 homeruns including a grand slam, and 14 RBI's. Based on the 96 games he played with Cincinnati, he is averaging a 1/3 increase in homeruns and double his amount of RBI's in his first 9 games with the Giants. In fact, on his 38th birthday on August 30th, he recorded 3 extra base hits and 4 RBI's.
Teammate Matt Duffy shares, "He's definitely been big, he kept us in the ballgame today and gave us a chance to win. It's nice to have another bat like that, another veteran bat." (Oliver Macklin, MLB.com). Byrd's success resembles that of Justin Maxwell's not too long ago. At the beginning of the 2018 season Maxwell replaced Pence while he was on the disabled list, shining on both sides of the ball. "[He] was the hero, and then he was the hero again." (Grant Brisbee: mccoveychronicles.com). He played like he was trying to get drafted (and essentially he was trying to get drafted for a starting position) every time Bochy gave him the opportunity to fill Pence's shoes.
Instead of being looked at as a backup OF scrub, he was looked at as a star player of the Giants for a long period of time. Proving himself to the coaching staff, teammates, and especially fans, he was starting to be seen more regularly. Hunter Pence returned and he was surely not going to be replaced, however Maxwell still performs at the highest level and to the best of his abilities when he is given the chance to. That same spark that made Maxwell so successful and likeable is seen in Marlon Byrd. His persistence to better himself and the team as a whole does not go unnoticed.
Players like this only come around so often and it is undeniably obvious that the Giants are honored to have him as a part of their club. A veteran to major league baseball, but a rookie to the Giants, Byrd is respectively earning the love of his peers and fans.
