A little over a month ago, we looked at the early returns for LaMonte Wade Jr. and saw that they weren’t promising. His results? Poor. His bat speed? Slow. Has any of this changed in the past 30 or so days and has he improved the lineup for the San Francisco Giants at all?

In a word: no.

His bat speed is averaging 70 mph, which is 22nd percentile in the sport and down 1.2 mph from his 0-for-16 start to 2025. It’s down 2.4 mph from last year’s average. He was a non-factor during the Giants’ stretch of 17 games in 17 days (.114/.326/.143), and he’s been the fifth-worst hitter in the sport (min. 110 PA) with a 43 wRC+ on a line of .144/.250/.247. He’s also been one of the ten worst hitters in the sport situationally:

If you’re not sure how to read that it means that Wade has, mathematically, cost the Giants 1 and a quarter win over the course of their first 37 games, which makes a lot of sense if you’ve been watching the lineup, particularly over the last couple of weeks — last night excepted.

Is Wade cooked?

Well, let’s go back to last night’s game, where he went 1-for-5. His average bat speed was up to around 71.6 mph, peaking at 73.2 mph on an 8th inning flyout to center. He had even higher above average “quick swings” in Sunday’s finale against the Rockies. He does seem to be hitting the ball harder of late — the results just haven’t been there. On the other hand, his early season percentages don’t match the last two years barely at all. His Hard Hit rate of 28.8% is basically unplayable. His walk rate is down and his strikeout rate is up.

The small sample size trends (he has 113 PA on the season) are ugly:

LWJ Rolling xwOBA ao 5-6-2025

via Baseball Savant

In this chart, all of his numbers are below league average to the point that you can’t even see it on the graph:

LWJ Rolling xSLG ao 5-6-2025

via Baseball Savant

LWJ Rolling wOBA ao 5-6-2025

via Baseball Savant

In this case, the numbers betray the eye test:

LWJ Rolling Hard Hit % ao 5-6-2025

via Baseball Savant

LWJ Rolling Sweet Spot %

via Baseball Savant

And then we get these two glimmers of hope:

LWJ Rolling K% ao 5-6-2025

via Baseball Savant

LWJ Rolling BB% ao 5-6-2025

via Baseball Savant

Okay, so, while the batted ball data isn’t promising, there’s evidence that his bat still has some thunder and the recent pitch selection data is pointing towards the On Base Machine regaining form, two data points I highlighted a couple of weeks ago.

Still, he’s been one of the worst players in the sport through the first month of the season, and that’s not even factoring in his defense at first base. It’s probably still too soon by a week to say that he’s “cooked,” but if he’s still a 1-for-5 guy with no extra base hits and few walks, it’s time to affix the label. Unfortunately, the Giants don’t have a better option at the moment, as Bryce Eldridge has played just 11 games at Double-A since starting the season late off the IL and Jake Lamb is slugging .350 in Sacramento. But again, let’s see where things stand a week or two from today.

One guy can trigger a lineup. To wit:

Before last night’s historic win in extra innings, the Giants were a below league average (91 wRC+) over the past couple of weeks. They’re juuuuust about average (98 wRC+) on the season. LWJ doesn’t provide much power, but he does provide plenty of on base, and the Giants could use a lot more of the latter and any extra bit of the former that they can get.

It’s trending “doubtful” that LaMonte Wade Jr. can fill in what’s been missing from the Giants’ lineup this season.