Down on the Farm: Healthy Heath Quinn showing off his power in San Jose

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Heath Quinn missed all of April last season with a broken hamate bone. The Giants' third-round pick from 2016 was placed on the DL twice in 2017, twice already this season, and only played in six games last month. 

When healthy though, there's no denying Quinn's power potential. And recently, that power has been on full display for the San Jose Giants. 

Quinn started off the month of May on a roll, batting .360 with one home run, two doubles and a .945 OPS in six games. But on May 8, Quinn went down with a leg injury while rounding the bases and didn't return until June 10. 

In June, the left fielder didn't miss a beat from where he was before his injury, bringing an even hotter bat to the plate. Over 12 games, he is batting .391with four home runs and a 1.092 OPS. Of the 12 games he's played in, Quinn has seven multi-hit games and has only gone hitless twice. 

Thursday night at Municipal Stadium was the latest display of hitting dominance for Quinn. Batting fourth as the DH, Quinn went 3-for-4 and mashed his fourth home run in his last eight games in San Jose's 6-1 win over Stockton. 

"The power is there, he’s one of those big-tool players," Netsor Rojas, San Jose's manager in 2017, said of Quinn last year.

When Rojas, now the Giants' Triple-A Fundamentals Coach in Sacramento, said that last year, Quinn was going through a season of ups and downs in San Jose. Quinn certainly showed his power in his first stint with San Jose, finishing the season with 10 home runs, but he hit just .186 in the second half of the season. For the year, he struck out in 31.6 percent of his at-bats. Now in Year 2 with San Jose, Quinn looks like a whole different player, with his strikeout rate down to 24 percent.

While playing in far less games (40) than other teammates, Quinn is still at or near the top of the charts in multiple offensive categories for San Jose. For everyday players, he leads the team with a .338 batting average, is third in home runs (7), first in on-base percentage (.391), first in slugging percentage (.539), and first in OPS (.929). 

Health hasn't always been kind to Heath. At 23 years old, the 6-foot-3, 220-pound slugger looks like he could be a centerpiece to the Giants' future, as long as he stays on the field. 

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