Four days after he signed a contract extension that was the easiest move of the Giants’ offseason, Kapler was, as expected, named National League Manager of the Year.
Bruce Bochy certainly should have won at least a couple, and he joined a presentation special on MLB Network to give the award to Kapler, his successor.
Kapler had extremely large shoes to fill when he was hired in 2019, and he was not initially a popular choice.
Despite showing progress in Kapler’s first season, the Giants were widely picked to finish third — and sometimes even lower — in their division this past season.
The Giants had the best record in the Majors for 125 days and became the first NL team since 1942 to have a .600 or better winning percentage in every month of the season.
Kapler left Philadelphia with questions about his in-game style, but he has more than answered those in two seasons with the Giants.
The offense embraced a style pushed by Kapler and his handpicked hitting coaches, crushing a franchise record 241 homers, the most in the NL.
At the end of the season, Kapler said that success was something he was particularly proud of because it showed how invested his players were in each other.
They don’t sulk in those moments, and it’s obviously made it much easier to do my job.
Kapler pushed all the right buttons during the regular season, and that made his November easy to predict.
I think Kap’s pregame preparation is excellent, but what makes Kap special is his commitment to making adjustments to new information from coaches, players and what the game is telling him.